


may we stay lost on our way home

by woojaes



Series: nct but add disney [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Peter Pan Fusion, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M, Magic, Missing Persons, Neverland (Peter Pan), With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21736228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woojaes/pseuds/woojaes
Summary: Neverland is the place where Lost Boys go. Donghyuck has been missing since he was 7, and is Neverland's longest resident.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Series: nct but add disney [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602328
Comments: 33
Kudos: 254





	may we stay lost on our way home

**Author's Note:**

> this au took over two years to write. i started it in 2017 after a visit to disneyworld then left it to collect dust in my harddrive until around august this year. thank you to lili (kiwi emoji) for encouraging me to start again, and supporting me through it. this story in its entirety wouldn't exist without her. i can't believe it's finally over. enjoy. ♡

All people, except one, are found. The longest that Donghyuck had known someone to stay was two years. Zhong Chenle, his name was. He arrived in Neverland during Donghyuck’s fifth year and left some time during his seventh, rich Chinese mother welcoming with open arms. In the two years Donghyuck knew Chenle, he would say they became good friends; the only two consistent people in a place with an ever-changing population. 

Chenle, on his first night in Neverland, took the bunk bed below Donghyuck’s in the dorm rooms. And while Donghyuck had decorated his bed space with things that reminded him of home -- whatever that was -- Chenle’s bed space remained bare, empty and ready for the next inhabitant. Neverland was always meant to be temporary, after all. 

Donghyuck’s sleep was interrupted that night, not only by the piercing white light of a device from the bed below him, but also by the soft sobs of the person laying in it. To anyone else outside of their bed space, the sound would have been inaudible, and the light not nearly as blinding, but Donghyuck could see the light filter through the mattress and into his eyelids, and the sobs became annoying after a while. 

Chenle, it turns out, was 10, a year younger than Donghyuck, and he was missing. Donghyuck was used to this phrase by now -- he had heard it many times from the temporary friends he made here, although he wasn’t quite used to the sting it still made in his chest. Every person here was missing. That was that. Chenle had accidentally taken the wrong route on his bike to his friend Jisung’s house and ended up here, lost, just like everyone else. 

All he had from his home -- again, whatever that was -- was the bike he came here on, a tattered backpack (carrying only enough change to buy candy, and one of his older brother’s comics) and an old 4th-gen iPod Nano, blue, with the click wheel. His first night, Donghyuck crawled into Chenle’s bed space and they sat, backs against the wall, sharing earphones while After School played on the Nano between them. Chenle cried until he eventually fell asleep, then Donghyuck silently switched off the music, climbed back up into his own bed and fell asleep himself, comforted by the silence from the bunk below his. 

The following morning, Chenle shared his first breakfast with Donghyuck despite not eating for a whole day. Donghyuck saw it as a thanks for the night before. They didn’t have a common language, no way to communicate at first besides using basic words in Chinese or Korean and exaggerated hand gestures, but they were friends. 

Chenle slept in the bed below Donghyuck’s for his entire stay in Neverland. What started as an awkward friendship built on mutual gratitude became Donghyuck’s hope (sick as it was) that Chenle would never be Found, since being Found meant leaving Neverland. No one else in Neverland had ever stayed as long as Donghyuck, and none of his friends ever stayed as long as Chenle did. As loud and annoying as he was at times, Donghyuck liked having someone he could talk to everyday, and company when he would sit and watch the sunset in Mermaid Lagoon over Marooner’s Rock, and someone to help set up pranks in Pixie Hollow. 

Chenle, predictably, was Found and returned home to his wealthy Chinese family, leaving Donghyuck with the promise of “I’ll come find you when you’re out of here, gege, we’ll hang out!” Oh, the irony. 

Then, he was gone. Magically, his belongings disappeared along with him, and the trace of his one and only true friend in Neverland had been erased. Donghyuck was only too used to this feeling -- akin to being left behind or forgotten -- but it hurt all the same. He didn’t blame Chenle; all anyone wanted to do when they arrived in Neverland was leave, no matter how nice the place was. Within days, there was a new person in the bottom bunk (a boy equally loud and annoying by the name of Yukhei) and, when he was Found within a few days, a new person after him (a literal Adonis called Yoonoh). All nice people, but they were never at Neverland long enough to make a lasting impression.

The sunsets over Marooner’s Rock and the sunrises over Neverpeak Mountain became not lonely, but gentle solitude. Donghyuck considers himself pretty extroverted, jittery from being alone too long, but always finds comfort in the few moments of peace watching the sunset at dusk, and the sunrise at dawn. The mermaids in the Lagoon ignore him most of the time as he sits on the edge of the bank, feet tucked underneath him so they don’t touch the threatening waters below, face turned up towards the orange sky. It’s here, enamoured by the beauty of Neverland, that Donghyuck feels most happy. 

At Neverpeak Mountain, the sunrise shines through the three peaks, separating the yellow glow into three spotlights. Donghyuck always sits on the other side of Cannibal Cove, the stretch of water in front of him and parts of Tiki Forest behind him, dips his toes into the shallow water and watches the day break before his eyes. 

Neverland is magical, there’s no doubt about that -- it’s Donghyuck’s home. Whatever that means.

✶✶

“There’s a new kid,” Renjun says, elbowing Donghyuck’s side at breakfast. Today, there’s an array of breakfast foods on the tables, though Donghyuck had chosen cereal only (Renjun instead piled his plate with bacon, eggs, pancakes and a good serving of maple syrup). Donghyuck follows his gaze. The boy they both stare at, Donghyuck observes, looks absolutely lost, no pun intended. 

“I wonder who he’s rooming with,” he says as he drops his spoon into his now empty bowl. “You, me or Jeno? We all have empty bunks in our rooms.”

Renjun shrugs, eyes still on the new boy. They both watch as he grabs a plate and tentatively picks up a slice of toast but drops it as he goes to put it on his plate, breadcrumbs falling on his shoes. Renjun snorts into his glass of orange juice. Donghyuck hides a smile.

It’s easy, being friends with Renjun. He arrived 6 months ago, having just started a new school and getting lost on his way home. Renjun is reserved and more introverted than Donghyuck but he became an instant friend, another somewhat consistent face in Donghyuck’s life. 

The new boy looks at the mess on his shoes, horrified, then around the room, clearly making sure no one saw. 

“He’s clumsy,” Donghyuck says, making a face as the new kid kicks the soiled toast and crumbs under a nearby table to save picking it up, then opts for cereal instead, barely able to stop himself from overfilling the bowl with milk. No wonder he’s missing, Donghyuck thinks, he can’t even make his own breakfast.

“Maybe it’s only his brain that’s lost,” Donghyuck mutters, not intending for Renjun to be able to hear it, but he does and he snorts once again into his orange juice. Jaemin isn’t here yet, not unusual though because Jaemin takes a lifetime to wake up and, in his words, make himself presentable enough to come to breakfast (they’ve both known Jaemin only a month but in that time he had been late to breakfast every single day, arriving only five minutes before closure, forcing him to gorge himself on pastries and coffee before being ushered out). 

The new kid balances his full bowl of cereal and glass of apple juice on a tray and carries it to a table, empty except for the discarded remains of the breakfast of the person who sat there before. He pushes it out of the way -- an empty paper coffee cup falls to the floor, bouncing loudly off the linoleum tiles -- then sits himself, still looking absolutely lost. He stares at his cereal, then lifts his head up, eyes squinted as if searching for something. Donghyuck’s eyes fall on the tray and he realises he’s forgotten to pick up a spoon. 

Donghyuck watches him, amused. 

Renjun nudges his side again. Donghyuck turns his head. 

“You’re staring,” he says, giving him a look. Donghyuck clears his throat and shoves his bowl away from him, giving a noncommittal shrug. 

Before he can answer, Jeno’s smiling face pops into view, eyes curved upwards too; next to Donghyuck, Renjun goes still. 

“Morning,” he says, cheerful as ever despite the early hour, and immediately he grabs a few slices of toast, buttering them slowly. 

“Hi,” Donghyuck says, barely acknowledging his greeting with a nod.

Renjun looks at Jeno, blinks for a moment at this shining grin, then looks back down at his almost-empty plate. “Hi Jeno,” he says. 

“I have a new roommate,” he starts. Immediately he sits up taller, eyes moving around the room in search of the person before they eventually land on -- the clumsy new kid, who looks just as anxious as he probably feels; he’s abandoned his breakfast in favour of fiddling with a loose thread on his shirt instead. “Mark!” 

At the sound of his name, the boy -- Mark -- looks up, visible relief appearing on his face. Jeno lifts a hand to beckon him closer, but there’s no need. Mark picks up his tray and starts the walk towards them almost instantly. The new kid -- Mark, Donghyuck tells himself -- looks older up close. 

“Hi,” he greets when he arrives, though by the time he’s walked the short trip across the cafeteria some of his apple juice has spilled out of the cup and created a wet ring on the paper lining the bottom of the tray. Donghyuck pulls a face. Beside him, Renjun jabs his elbow into his side. 

“I’m Mark,” he continues, voice steady but it’s clear to anyone that he’s nervous, if the way he’s frowning is anything to go by. His eyebrows are perfect curves, the equivalent of two bird wings right above his eyes, but they’re pulled together, creating wrinkles in his skin above his nose.

“Na Jaemin, nice to meet you,” Jaemin appears from behind Jeno, smiling so wide he would rival him, already holding two disposable cups of coffee. He gestures behind him to the limited display of pastries on today’s breakfast menu, though he’s already half walked towards it when he says “let me just grab some food” from over his shoulder. 

“Renjun,” the boy next to Donghyuck says with a small wave.

“I’m Donghyuck,” he introduces with a nod of his head. Mark looks considerably less nervous after the introductions, but nerves were always present on the first day. Depending on the length of stay, sometimes people would be nervous the whole time. Donghyuck remembers his own nervous jitters (it took months for them to go away).

Jeno gestures vaguely to the two empty seats in front of Donghyuck and Renjun and Mark slides into one, and Jeno into the other. When Jaemin arrives back at the table, he pulls with him a spare seat from another table, and sits at the short edge, resting his plate of pastries on his lap and his two coffee cups on the table. It’s comfortable, real, hopeful. Donghyuck likes this. 

Within moments of arriving, Jaemin launches into a story about a dream he had last night and Jeno and Renjun are engrossed in his dramatic recount, choosing instead to talk amongst themselves. Donghyuck looks at Mark; he’s not really eating, but moving the spoon around in the milk, not really looking at anything either. Donghyuck cringes.

“Aren’t you hungry?” He asks and Mark looks up instantly.

“Uh”, he shrugs and drops the spoon so some of the milk splatters over the tray and his own cheek, which he wipes away with his finger, “no. Not really.” 

“You’ll feel way worse if you don’t eat, trust me,” Donghyuck nods towards the bowl, full of now-soggy cereal. “The first day is one of the worse.”

Mark seems to inhale at that, then look away back to the bowl. He fiddles with the handle of his spoon, contemplating it, and Donghyuck watches every move. 

“Plus,” Donghyuck continues, “breakfast in Neverland is the best.” 

Mark smiles to himself at that, then scoops one spoonful of cereal and eats it and Donghyuck smiles too. “You’re right, this is definitely among the best cereals I’ve eaten in my life. Way less bland than your average supermarket bestseller.” 

Donghyuck snorts and steals a cold rasher of bacon from Renjun’s plate when he’s not looking, holding it between his thumb and forefinger to eat it carefully. 

“Try the pancakes tomorrow, or the waffles. The servers will give you one extra if you sweet talk them.” Donghyuck gestures to Jaemin, who is too busy with his dream recount to notice both boys looking at him. “That’s how Jaemin always gets like, seven pastries and two coffees. He just smiles at them and the barista and they love him. Personally, I think it’s a major case of workplace discrimination.”

Mark laughs, loud and attention-seeking. The rest of the table turn back to stare at him. Unsurprisingly, he shrinks from the weight of eight eyes on him; Donghyuck almost wants to laugh himself.

“So, Mark,” Renjun turns around completely now so he is facing away from both Jaemin next to him and Jeno in front of him, putting an end to whatever story Jaemin was telling. Both of them visibly deflate, but Donghyuck pretends not to see. “How did you end up here?”

This is the all-important question, the Neverland equivalent of asking how someone ended up in prison -- or similar. Mark looks startled at the question.

When he doesn't answer, Renjun eyes Jeno and stage-whispers across the table. “You told him about this place, right?” 

“I’m lost,” Mark says before Jeno can reply. There's no questioning tone, just a statement, and the rest of the table look at him with sympathy. Donghyuck nods, solemn. 

“Do you remember what happened?” 

Mark’s eyebrows pull together in a frown in the centre of his forehead and he's silent for a few seconds while he calculates it in his head. Eventually, he responds. “It rained last night. I just started a new job the other side of the city and I got lost when I finished my night shift because I took a shortcut in my car.”

The story is familiar. They all did something different one day, took a wrong turn or a shortcut or let go of their mom’s hand, wandered too far away from safe spaces. Everyone who lives in Neverland has one major thing in common. They all got lost. (Donghyuck has met so many lost people, he’s starting to believe everyone gets lost at some point in their lives.)

Feeling eight eyes on him, Mark shrinks again and goes back to fiddling with the spoon in his cereal bowl, looking even more miserable than before -- if at all possible -- and Donghyuck almost wants to reach across the table and grab his hand, but his brain screams at him not to. 

Jeno hooks one arm over Mark’s shoulders and squeezes him in an awkward, one-sided hug. The gesture looks odd -- Mark doesn’t reciprocate, and actually he freezes in place, looking defensive. “Hey, you’ll be out of here before you know it. Most people stay here for a few weeks max. Then they go home to their families, safe and sound.”

Mark yelps pathetically but drops the spoon again, his interest seemingly piqued. “And how long have you all been here?”

The four of them exchange looks, hesitant. Jaemin volunteers to go first. 

“A month.” 

Then Jeno. 

“About 3 months.”

Then Renjun. 

“6-ish months.”

Donghyuck gulps, not able to look Mark in the eye. 

“Um,” he clears his throat, “I think it’s been 10 years now.”

Donghyuck can tell by the way the table falls silent that their words don’t comfort Mark in any way. He knows the other three well enough to know they regret saying anything, and there’s a similar stab of guilt in his own chest. He risks a glance up at Mark through his eyelashes; his eyes are wide, his face pale, and he clutches the edge of the table with two fists, mouth open. He looks like he wants to cry or vomit, or both. 

“But, you know, that means I see a lot of people come and go,” Donghyuck adds, the sight of Mark’s forlorn, dejected expression invoking him to say something else -- anything else -- to cheer him up. “I had a roommate once that was only here for three days. He was Found pretty quickly.” 

Donghyuck manages a small smile directed at Mark. Mark makes eye contact with him, sucking in a breath. 

“Hopefully you will be the same!” 

Mark breathes in again, blinks once, nods. He still looks uneasy, but there’s a flicker of hope in his eyes that wasn’t there before. It’s not a huge improvement, but Donghyuck is pleased with the change.

“We should go,” Renjun says, taking his dirty plate and the various other dirty plates and bowls over the table and piling them up in the centre. “Cafeteria closes in 5 minutes.” 

Five chairs screech against the tile floor all at the same time as the boys stand to leave. The last few people left behind in the cafeteria wrinkle their noses at the loud sound. Overhead, a clock chimes, signalling the start of a new hour. 

“So, uh, what happens now?” Mark asks as they gather outside in a loose circle, Donghyuck already itching to retreat to his favourite spot inside Neverlibrary and get lost (no pun intended) inside another one of his favourite books. 

Jaemin and Jeno shrug in unison. “Well, it's Saturday. So, anything you want. If you're still here on Monday, you'll have to study.” Jaemin answers. 

“Study? You have school?”

Mark's eyes are comically wide. Donghyuck bites back a smile at his expression and snorts, nodding his head. “You think the boss would just let us do whatever we want, all the time?” 

“There's a boss?”

Mark's answer is so abrupt it almost cuts off the end of Donghyuck's sentence. He rolls his eyes. “Do you want a guided tour? Exclusive access all areas, courtesy of Lee Donghyuck.”

Mark cracks a tiny smile. Donghyuck takes that as his cue to tug gently on Mark's arm, gesturing behind him. Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin share a look of amusement between the three of them, and Donghyuck bids them goodbye with a wave as both he and Mark start walking backwards, away from them.

“This is the paid, premium experience, Mark. Just wait.”

✶✶

“So you're saying,” Mark starts, “that you've been here 10 years and you still have to study?” 

Donghyuck rolls his eyes for the nth time during the guided tour. “Yes, duh. I value my education. When I get out of here I want to be a designer.”

“What kind of designer?”

“Clothes, I think. I persuaded the boss to buy materials for me a while ago and I've been practicing a lot.” 

Donghyuck stops both conversation and the walk as Neverlibrary looms into view, and Donghyuck gestures to it with his arms outstretched. “This is Neverlibrary, 7 floors of everything you ever need to know about anything. The librarian is like my second dad.” 

Donghyuck pauses. “He's been here almost as long as me.” 

Mark blinks. It's obvious to Donghyuck that Mark doesn't know how to respond, so he continues. “The second floor boys bathroom was the birthplace of my design career. You'll find all my artwork on the inside of all the cubicle doors.” 

Donghyuck isn't sure if Mark is even listening to him anymore, but Donghyuck has always been a natural extrovert so he continues yet again, arm hooked back with Mark's now, leading him to the next landmark.

It's beyond the library when the bushes and shrubs surrounding it begin to thin out into a small clearing, centred only by a lone, bare tree. The roots are embedded deep into the soil and the various holes in the trunk of the tree show varying degrees of rot.

“This is the boss’ house.” Donghyuck says simply, offering no explanation.

“Uh,” Mark blinks again, clearly confused. “What?”

“It only looks creepy. Did you ever see that tent in the fourth Harry Potter movie? It's way nicer on the inside, when you get underground.”

“Seriously?” Mark’s tone is not really a question, moreso a statement of disbelief. “And what's the uh- the boss’ name?” 

“Peter. That's what we all call him. But his actual name is Taeyong, he told me to keep it secret,” Donghyuck shrugs, “but I trust you, Mark. I'll know who spread the secret if it ever gets around.” 

Mark snorts, “right. Comforting. Thanks.”

Donghyuck grins. “I'm his favourite. If you ever ask him, he'll deny it. But I know it.” 

Donghyuck's fingers travel down Mark's arm to circle around his wrist, tugging again, this time forward, passing the tree across the clearing and emerging out of the other side. There's almost nothing in front of them except for the steep edge of a cliff and the bright sun glare reflecting on the skull-shaped rock a couple of meters into the water at the bottom of the cliff. 

“Skull Rock,” says Donghyuck, gesturing to it once again. “You should avoid it, it's haunted. There's an urban legend that if you go there, you won't come back. I've never seen anyone try.”

Mark studies it with his eyes squinted, sensitive to the sun rays. “So what's it for?” 

“Oh. Well. Apparently there used to be pirates here or something and that's where they lived. I guess they abandoned it, or they died.”

“I wonder where the urban legend comes from then, if no one ever comes back alive.” Mark grins.

“Smart ass,” Donghyuck clicks his tongue. Mark smiles wider.

It's silent for several moments while both boys just stand at the cliff's edge and admire the way the sun bounces off the rocks. The waves splash gently against the chalk bottom of the cliff and seem to increase in roughness until the waves at the base of Skull Rock crash into it at full speed. 

“Let's go to my favourite part of Neverland.” Donghyuck breaks the comfortable silence, leading Mark away from the edge of the cliff back amongst the bushes. Mark follows him without question and he feels warm, happy. 

A few minutes of walking along the bushes, feet cracking sticks underneath them, the three points of Neverpeak Mountain emerge into view, and beyond that, the curved gulf of Mermaid Lagoon. Donghyuck stops, three peaks in clear sight. 

“Neverpeak Mountain. The centre of Neverland, and home to Pixie Hollow. The pixies aren't always that nice, though. Kind of bitchy and rude if you catch them on a bad day.”

Mark blinks with wide eyes.

“They're tall,” he says dumbly.

“You can reach the top of the centre mountain in a few hours, if you have the endurance. The other two take about an hour each.”

Mark blinks again, intimidated not only by the sight of the mountain but also Donghyuck's knowledge. He feels small and insignificant on this little-- island? Mark's unsure where Neverland is, how it is even possible for such a place to exist. Donghyuck seems to sense his apprehension.

“You look like you've seen a ghost.”

There's motion sickness in his tummy in anticipation for when he's sure Donghyuck will make him climb the mountains; looking at them alone makes him queasy. Donghyuck grabs his arm, tugging them both towards the peaks of the mountains.

“One of the female pixies likes me so she's always nice to me. I left her three nights ago with the promise I'll come back soon and she falls for my smiles every time.” Donghyuck smiles, charming and cheeky, like the idea of flirting with an unsuspecting pixie is amusing to him. 

They walk until a nest of trees appears in front of them, one large tree in the centre, glowing gold light gently pulsing from the middle of the leaves. This part of Neverland, in stark contrast to the sharpness of Skull Rock, is peaceful, more a land of fantasy than anything Mark had ever seen before. 

“Wait here,” Donghyuck says before he lets go of Mark's arm and approaches the tree. Mark obediently waits in place for Donghyuck's signal. 

“Nakyung,” he hears Donghyuck call out. A few seconds, pause. “Nakyung,” he repeats. 

Out from the gold glow emerges what Mark assumes is a pixie, though he swears he could be hallucinating. She's tiny, like the image Mark conjured in his head, her hair split in her parting into two colours: pink one side, and blue the other. She's too far away for Mark to see any of her other features, but she flutters her wings in excitement when she realises who has come to see her. 

She must say something, because Donghyuck nods and says “sorry”, but Mark can't hear her voice. The pixie -- Nakyung -- flies around his head, sprinkles of pixie dust falling to the grass beneath her, and it's only then that she spots Mark stood still, patient and waiting. She stops flying abruptly and hovers mid-air in front of Donghyuck; from here, Mark can see her face now she's turned towards him, and she's not happy, that much is clear. Donghyuck waves her concern off. 

“Relax, Nakyung,” he says, and only at her command does she seem to falter and drop the protective act. She huffs, clearly annoyed at the interruption. Donghyuck giggles.

“This is Mark,” he says, now gesturing for Mark to join him at the tree. “He's my friend, so be nice.”

Mark follows Donghyuck to the tree and stands apprehensively at his side. He doesn’t know how much damage a pixie this small could do, but he doesn’t want to chance it. 

She studies him for a few seconds, eyes squinted comically. Her eyes then flicker to Donghyuck again; there's something in her eyes that looks akin to jealousy, maybe, or disdain, but Mark only raises an eyebrow back at her in challenge. She turns around so her back is facing him and flies back into the tree (but not before flicking Mark's nose with her wings). 

“She's friendly,” Mark comments after she has disappeared. 

Donghyuck snorts. “She’s a girl in love. She doesn't like newcomers that take me away from her.” 

Mark coughs awkwardly, “is that what she thinks is happening?”

“She just gets jealous easily,” he says. “She reacted the same way to Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin too. Every friend I bring to meet her.” Donghyuck shrugs. “No big deal.”

Mark stares at the tree for a few more minutes, and if he were in any other place, he would have assumed he was hallucinating, but he had spent the last 16 hours in a vanishing, magical land that Lost People went to, and he's not sure he has the right to say what's real or not anymore. 

“There's one more place to show you,” Donghyuck says, bringing Mark out of his stupor. Mark turns to face him and he has a small smile; child-like, almost. Excitement. Mark mirrors it. 

“Mermaid Lagoon,” he says, grabbing Mark’s arm again and leading them around the gathering of trees making up the centre of Pixie Hollow, through the clearing separating the three mountains, and out through the other end. The first thing Mark notices is that this is another coast of the island; the rocks break apart to form a semi-circle where crystal blue waters crash against them, but they're turbulent. Threatening. Mark shudders.

There are three mermaids on the rocks when they emerge through into the area and each of them look at the two boys with interest. 

“Donghyuck, you have a new friend?” The first mermaid asks, eyes squinted and smirking. 

“Yeah. His name is Mark,” he says, gesturing to him. Mark waves an awkward wave.

“Donghyuck never brings boys to meet us, such a shame. That Renjun boy is so nice.” The second mermaid murmurs. Mark notices that Donghyuck's ears turn red.

“The last boy that Donghyuck brought to meet us was--” 

The third mermaid is cut off by Donghyuck’s squeak and Mark looks over just in time to see him frantically shake his head, looking panicked. The mermaids shriek in glee.

Before Mark can ask what's so embarrassing, Donghyuck has dragged them both out of the earshot of the mermaids, leaving them laughing by themselves on the rocks. His cheeks are still red. Mark looks at him questioningly.

“Seulgi, Joy and Yeri,” he says, gesturing behind him to the three mermaids: blonde, red and brunette hair respectively. Mark can just about see them from where he and Donghyuck now stand, and they're flicking their tails in the water, creating additional waves in the already rough ocean. 

“What did they mean?” Mark asks, “The third mermaid. Yeri? What did she say?” 

Donghyuck pointedly ignores his question and instead points to a break in the trees surrounding Mermaid Lagoon.

“That brings us to the end of the Lee Donghyuck Neverland Tour with unlimited, exclusive access all areas. Mark, I hope you enjoyed. Exit is over there.”

Donghyuck is gone before Mark even realises it and he's left standing alone at junction of Cannibal Cove and Mermaid Lagoon, thoroughly confused. 

✶✶

When Mark finds Donghyuck again, it isn't until lunch. In the several hours between the tour and lunch, Mark had wandered around trying to get his barings but in fact only ended up more lost than before (no pun intended). Eventually he stumbled upon Renjun and Jeno sat very close together and talking in suspiciously low voices about something they clearly wanted no one else to hear, and he interrupted them to ask them to show him the way back. They sprung apart like their proximity had somehow suddenly burned them, and agreed to do so. Renjun was slightly red in the face and Jeno kept his eyes strictly on the ground as they walked. Mark felt like an intruder, caught in the middle of whatever was going on with them and only when they arrived back on the sandy terrain outside of Neverlibrary and the cafeteria for the second time that day did the feeling go away, when he was once again surrounded by other people and the sound of chatter drowned out the deafening silence enveloping the three of them. 

At some point before the lunch bell rang, Jeno disappeared and Mark later saw him linked arms with Jaemin and if the way Renjun froze up next to him was anything to go by, Renjun had clearly seen the same thing. Feeling a little useless and out of the loop, he too walked away, only to then find Donghyuck emerging from the library and heading towards the cafeteria. Eager to flee the awkward atmosphere with Renjun, Mark approaches him. 

“Hi,” he says and Donghyuck jumps, in the middle of putting a book inside a bag he's got on his shoulder. 

“Oh my god,” he says, hand over his heart. He shuts the bag and frowns at him, unimpressed.

Mark simply smiles. 

“It's lunch time now,” he says, still clearly a bit peeved from the scare, but more relaxed now.

“If there's anything you must know about the food at Neverland,” he goes on, “it's that Taeyong is THE best cook. Ever.”

“He makes all the food himself? Even though he's the boss?”

“Of course,” Donghyuck shrugs. “What else is he gonna do all day? Sure, he runs everything, but most things are pretty functional.” 

They enter the cafeteria; most tables are taken and have people already eating at them, but Mark spots a few empty tables towards the back of the room, points at them, and they both begin walking over to them.

“Do you know what’s happening with Renjun and Jeno?” Mark asks when they have moved there, placing bags under chairs and jackets on the back of them. They grab a plate each and move over to the thinning lunch line, waiting at the end of it for their turn. 

Donghyuck snorts beside him, standing on his tiptoes to see over shoulders of the people in front of them to ogle at the food on display. “Oh, there’s mixed feelings. I’ve just left it up to them to figure it out. Too complicated.”

The line inches forward. If Mark stretched, he’d be able to see the food too. His feet stay firmly planted to the floor.

“And Jeno and Jaemin?” 

Donghyuck laughs this time, craning his head back to look at Mark. He has a playful smile on his face. “Again, mixed feelings. I’m staying out of it.”

Mark’s eyebrows raise. He gets the feeling Donghyuck knows more than he lets on, but he doesn’t push him for an answer. He shrugs instead, and when the line inches forward once more, the trays of food come into view.

“Holy shit,” he says before he can stop himself. Mark can only describe the food on display as a feast - there’s several large silver platters of rice, noodles, pasta and potatoes, with even more trays of meat, curries, soups and stews to eat with them. It’s more food than Mark has ever seen in a cafeteria before and he’s certainly spoilt for choice.

“This beats my lunches back home,” he says in awe and he feels Donghyuck look at him, sees his gleeful smile from the corner of his eye. 

“Told you,” he grins, already starting to pile his plate with his chosen food when the line has moved forward enough. Mark gapes for a little longer, completely overwhelmed by the amount, before choosing rice and a few spoonfuls of vegetable curry to go with it.

Sheepishly, he follows Donghyuck back to the table. 

“You know the lunch is unlimited?” Donghyuck says, taking one look at Mark’s meagre meal and pulling a face.

“Damn,” Mark says, eyeing the other boy’s considerably well-stocked plate with a pang of jealousy. 

The table has three extra seats but Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin don’t join them. Mark frowns.

“I didn’t give you a tour of the library, I just remembered.”

Mark blinks at the boy sitting opposite him.

“Are you using this as an excuse to introduce me to your librarian friend and show me your drawings in the boys bathroom?”

Donghyuck drops his fork, his cheeks flushing pink at the question. “Of course not,” he says, though the stutter at the beginning of his words only affirms Mark’s point. “I was thinking for your sake if you’re still here on Monday, you’ll need to know where everything is.”

Mark grins. 

“Okay. I have no plans, as you know.”

Donghyuck goes back to his food, dipping his head low so his pink cheeks aren’t visible, but the tips of his ears still peek up through his hair, red. Mark finishes first and goes back for one more small plate of spicy potatoes, but by the time he’s finished he and Donghyuck are two of five people left in the cafeteria and Donghyuck hurriedly takes their dirty plates to the kitchen to avoid being kicked out. 

“Where did you disappear to, anyway? Earlier. After you left me in the forest.”

“Oh,” Donghyuck laughs; his sudden shy facade over lunch completely vanished. “I just went to the library, like I always do. Sorry about that, by the way.”

Mark shrugs off his apology. “I got lost, but it’s fine.”

Donghyuck laughs again, pushing open the big heavy doors of the library by leaning his entire body on them. “You’re already lost, but the point stands.”

His mind protests, but he cracks a smile at the joke. 

“Johnny,” Donghyuck calls out to someone after the door has shut behind them. 

A tall man emerges from a staff room behind the counter, all friendly smiles and welcoming gestures, and Mark can instantly understand why Donghyuck and this man have developed a friendship.

“Hey, again,” Johnny greets, bringing with him a stack of books, and he catches sight of Mark stood at the side, awkward. He looks between Mark and Donghyuck, then his eyes land firmly on Donghyuck for confirmation.

“This is Mark,” Donghyuck says, pointing to him, and Mark bows his head in hello.

“Hey, I’m Johnny.” 

“Johnny’s been here almost as long as me. About eight and a half years, right?” Johnny cracks a smile and begins to scan the books through a computer, nodding his head at the same time. 

“Yeah, about that. I had a fight with my mom and she kicked me out of her house, and I have been here since.”

“That sucks,” Mark says, hoping to offer some sort of comfort, though both Donghyuck and Johnny shrug their shoulders. They must be used to it, Mark thinks, but truthfully he cannot get that out of his mind. What if he too ends up staying in Neverland for 10 years, not able to see his family again? What if this place is meant to be his home, and Vancouver was only temporary? Donghyuck and Johnny are able to talk about this naturally, as all the years they have lived in Neverland made it normal for them, and they are even able to make jokes about it, but perhaps that is why Donghyuck and Johnny seem to get along so well. They both have a mutual understanding no one else in Neverland shares.

“Yeah, I was 15 at the time,” he says, taking the scanned books into his arms, “but it’s alright. It happens.” Johnny comes out from behind the counter and face to face, he is way taller than Mark expected. 

“Anyway, I have to work. See you guys later.” He smiles at them both and disappears into one of the aisles. Mark almost forgets why he’s there, until a sharp tug on his wrist tells him Donghyuck is impatiently dragging him away somewhere else. 

“He’s nice, right?” Donghyuck says, clearly in deep admiration for Johnny and Mark finds himself smiling, softened by the interaction, and he nods to answer.

The inside of the library is in stark contrast to the outside. From the outside the building is authoritative and official, but inside it boasts several seating areas with large armchairs all surrounding a deep walnut coffee table, plus lots of desks of the same colour, each with a computer on-- and this is just all on ground level.

Mark’s eyes widen and he scans up on each floor; standing at the foot of the stairs, Mark can see up the central stairwell and each floor has the same cosy decor. It is obvious in this moment why Donghyuck chooses to spend much of his time here. 

“You’re lucky you’re with me,” Donghyuck says suddenly, eyes already on Mark’s face when he turns to look at him. “I have my own armchair. Official and everything.”

He starts walking. Mark follows.

“The perks of being here so long,” he says even though Mark doesn’t speak. 

“And you said about Jaemin getting special treatment at breakfast,” Mark smiles, sheepish.

Donghyuck laughs way too loud for a library, but no one comes out to reprimand him, “that’s different! He flirts, it’s disgusting. Me, I use my charming personality and superb ass-kissing skills.”

As soon as Donghyuck’s armchair comes into view at the end of one of the aisles, paired with another armchair and a small table between them, it’s obvious why it belongs to him. On the centre of the headrest, not to be missed by absolutely anyone, Donghyuck has sewn his initials - LDH - in black applique. 

“You can take the other one.”

Mark snorts, “Thanks, but when do I get to formally claim it?”

“After living here for 10 years,” Donghyuck grins, then shrugs his shoulders. 

Mark knows it's supposed to be a joke, really he does, but his blood goes cold for a small second. He's sure his face visibly tightens as well because Donghyuck's eyes widen and he hurriedly shakes his head.

"I didn't mean it that way, I swear!"

Mark shakes his own head, desperate to rid himself of the feeling again. He had already experienced the despair this morning, and their conversation over breakfast did very little to ease his mind, though the tour of the island and the library had helped to distract him. He knows when he tries to sleep tonight that those thoughts will play on his mind for the second time. 

"Maybe I will be here for 10 years, who knows. It depends who's looking for me, right?" 

Donghyuck is momentarily dumbfounded, staring at Mark with his mouth open in an 'o'. His eyebrows are pulled together in a frown. After a few seconds, his mouth closes and he appears to close his eyes too for a moment, but by the time Mark has registered that he's doing it, his eyes have opened again and he's smiling, tilting his head to beckon Mark in the direction he points in.

"Yeah, you're right. But you have a good family, right? They'll have been searching this whole time, guaranteed." 

His arm grabs Mark's bicep and he tugs, back along the aisle they stood at the end of, and back to the main walkway where the central stairway curls like a helter skelter, spiralling upwards to the very top floor. It's mostly empty save for some people on tables and on computers, and a group on the third floor gathered around an easel. 

"Right," Mark says, not really knowing what else to reply, and he just follows Donghyuck wherever he takes him. They walk up the winding staircase.

"First floor, languages. English, Spanish, you name it. It's all here. If it's not here, make a wish." 

Mark isn't really listening, letting his eyes take in the sights instead, but his brain fumbles on Donghyuck's words. "I-- what?! A wish?"

Donghyuck turns his head to flash him a secretive smile.

"Yeah, a wish. One of those little magical quirks. The whole place is made out of pixie bricks, you know."

He's sure he looks just as confused as he feels because Donghyuck snorts with laughter after glancing at his face.

"Pixie bricks, aka clumps of pixie dust mixed with cement."

"Huh," Mark says in disbelief. He isn't sure whether Donghyuck is even telling the truth but at this point, he's done questioning his sanity. He will just go along for the ride.

They continue up to the second floor, and this time they step off the staircase. Donghyuck leads them straight to the bathroom immediately to the right.

"And now, Mark. Behold. This might just be some of the best artwork you've ever seen." He pushes open the door and it shuts with a soft thud behind them. All four cubicle doors are open. Mark's curiosity gets the better of him and he walks inside the first cubicle, and closes the door so he can see the drawings made on the inside.

Donghyuck had said he wanted to be a designer and his passion clearly translated to the back of this door by the sheer amount of doodles on it, but Mark's attention is immediately taken by a detailed sketch not far from the lock. It's of the three peaks of Neverland, and on top of the highest, two boys sit side by side. He can't tell who they are as they are drawn from the back, but it is hard to see where each body begins as they sit so close to each other.

Donghyuck had invited him here to see his artwork probably just to be friendly, but Mark feels like he's interrupting an intimate moment seeing so much of Donghyuck so soon after they met. These images belong in the pages of a sketchbook, or framed on a wall to be admired, or digitally enhanced and sold, but definitely not here, scratched into the wood of the boys' bathroom doors, seen only by people in a passing fashion. 

"Donghyuck, these are really good," Mark says in a soft voice, eyes scanning each tiny sketch as if they tell a story. They probably do. 

"Thank you," he hears back, voice equally soft. Mark's sure Donghyuck was holding his breath by the way it comes out with the slightest of squeaks. 

Mark opens the door and steps out, then continues down the line of cubicles and enters each one in turn, closing each door behind him so he can see the sketches etched into them. All of the doors are different - all tiny clues of a long story, set in Neverland. The second door has two boys sat on the edge of Marooner's Rock while two mermaids stare up at them; the third has two boys in a school uniform (again sketched from the back so there are no visible faces) but one has his head on the other's shoulder; and finally in the fourth there are lots and lots of sketches, it's the most defaced door of them all, but in the far right corner near the hinge Mark spots the conclusion to the two-boys saga: their kiss, while the pixies of Pixie Hollow buzz around them both. It's very small, almost like it's meant to be hidden. If Mark wasn't looking for it to continue the story told on the first three doors, he may not have noticed at all.

Perhaps Donghyuck doesn't want anyone to notice. Is it perhaps that Mark is the only person to see inside each cubicle in chronological order and is the only other boy on the island who knows the love story of the two mystery characters? 

Mark stares at this sketch the longest. He doesn't know if Donghyuck planned a story of sketches in each cubicle all linking from the next, or if they are drawn from memory. Like they all happened. 

He decides that's a conversation for another day.

"I'm impressed," Mark says as he steps out of the final cubicle, door closing behind him. Donghyuck gives him a small smile, softer than any of the other interactions they had had so far, though soon replaced by a cheeky grin.

"Thank you, I'll remember you when I'm famous one day."

Mark rolls his eyes. A question pops into his head and he does little to stop himself asking it.

“Is there any part of Neverland you don’t know?”

Donghyuck is silent for a moment in thought, then he laughs softly. “Yeah, I’ve never climbed the tree in Pixie Hollow. And I’ve never looked under the floorboards.”

Mark gets the feeling Donghyuck is joking but he finds the admission admirable all the same. He can’t imagine ever feeling at home here, or anywhere for that matter, and he finds comfort in the fact that Donghyuck has remained positive despite their circumstances. 

The rest of the day goes by in a blur with Donghyuck there for most of it, always something new for him to show Mark. By nighttime Mark’s head is abuzz with all the new information, so much of it that his brain is foggy. He and Donghyuck had met once again with Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin (all seemingly now on better terms than they were at lunchtime) for dinner before they all retired to their respective rooms, Jeno at his heels.

“How was your first day?” Jeno asks after he walks in after showering, towel around his shoulders to catch the drips of his wet hair. 

Mark looks up at him from the bottom bunk and shrugs his shoulders. “It was good. Busy. Donghyuck showed me around and told me everything.”

Jeno starts towelling his hair and answers only when he has shaken the water out of his hair and pushed it back from his face. “Yeah he does that.”

Mark picks at his nails for a few seconds. Jeno hangs the towel in the bathroom and comes back out with his glasses on. 

“I had all day to kind of forget about it but this place, is so confusing.” Mark says.

Jeno chuckles as he approaches the ladder and climbs up into the top bunk, and Mark can see where the mattress moves from underneath as Jeno gets comfortable on top of it. “People get lost all the time. Everyone in the world has a place and when they leave that place, they must go somewhere else. Neverland is there when that lost person needs a place.”

A beat.

“Renjun told me that on my first day. I don’t know if it’s right, but I like to think that’s how Neverland works.”

Another beat.

“It’s better that people end up here than… anywhere else.” 

Mark knows what Jeno means. He shivers. 

Jeno doesn’t speak anymore, and within a few minutes Mark can tell he’s fallen asleep, if his soft snores from above are anything to go by. Mark gets out of bed to turn the light off in the room, then shuffles back under the covers, seeking their warmth. He has not slept a night in Neverland yet; this time yesterday he would have been on his first ever night shift, and would be hours away from driving the wrong way, unbeknown that Neverland would appear to him like a sanctuary when he needed it the most.

Mark thanks his lucky stars for that.

✶✶

Mark does not sleep well that night. It's not that Jeno was loud, or anything else for that matter, but simply put: his thoughts wouldn't let him. Mark has always been a deep sleeper, and when he falls asleep he does so quickly and deeply, and always wakes up groggy; this is the first time in his life he has never been able to sleep. 

His head, neck and shoulders hurt like hell. His eyelids scratch his eyes every blink he makes.

"You look rough," Jeno says when he climbs down from the top bunk and finds Mark already awake on the bunk below.

"Yeah, thanks," Mark says, sitting up to rub his eyes. He accidentally misjudges the distance of the bars on the bottom of the bed above him and his forehead whacks into them, and he cries out in pain. 

Jeno is at his side instantly.

"Are you alright? You'll probably need to see the nurse, you hit that really hard." 

Mark covers the rising bump on his forehead with his hand and closes his eyes. "I'm okay, I'll be fine. I just need some breakfast."

As if on cue, his tummy grumbles with hunger. Mark throws back the covers and stands up, but immediately his knees wobble and he grips hard on the wooden panels of the bed so he doesn't fall. His vision goes blurry. 

"Yeah, I'm taking you to the nurse."

Mark doesn't protest this time.

The nurse's office is not far from their rooms, located in a small building between the school and the library. Both he and Jeno are still wearing their pyjamas; most of Neverland is still quiet as people rouse for breakfast. The few early risers are out, but they pay Jeno and Mark no mind.

Jeno knocks on the door and a voice from an intercom on the door asks why they're here. Jeno answers for him and the door buzzes open, and Jeno leads him inside.

The room is exactly what you expect of a nurse's office: bright white and sterile, a strong smell of disinfectant and very quiet jazz music playing from speakers in the waiting room. Mark has never liked doctors, so he feels a little anxious to be here, but having Jeno with him eases his mind.

They haven't been sat in the waiting room for very long when Mark's name is called from the speaker. A woman's voice, warm and friendly. Mark stands up slowly to avoid going dizzy.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Jeno asks.

Mark shakes his head, but regrets it when he feels pain flare up in the bump. "I'll be okay."

He walks slowly across the room to the surgery room and enters it, closing the door behind him. The nurse is waiting for him at her desk, dressed all in white with a small smile on her face. Her name tags reads Nurse Joohyun. 

She gestures to the other seat at her desk when Mark stands awkwardly at the door.

"How can I help you, Mark?" 

He takes his hand away from his head to reveal the large swelling there. Further twinges of pain shoot through his brain like an electric shock. 

Joohyun leans in to examine the bump. Her overpowering perfume wafts up into Mark's nostrils. 

"How did you do this?" 

"Uh," Mark's voice is raspy from lack of sleep so he coughs to clear his throat, "this morning, I sat up in bed and hit it on the bunk above."

She nods, clearly not the first time she's hearing this exact sequence of events. How many other people had she met before who had done the same thing?

"Did you feel dizzy? Have a headache?"

"Yeah, to both."

She nods and turns back to her computer, and begins typing on it. "Well, it's not serious. Just a slight bump to the head which has resulted in a mild concussion." 

Mark gulps. His second day in Neverland and he is already hurting himself.

"I can give you some pain relief medicine, but that's about it. You will just need to rest and avoid doing anything strenuous."

Mark slowly nods, careful not to bring more pain to his already throbbing forehead, and gratefully takes the packet of medication she hands over to him. 

"One pill every four hours, but no more than six in 24 hours. Take before eating." 

Mark nods again, repeating her instructions like a mantra in his head so he doesn't forget. He lets himself out and joins Jeno back in the waiting room, and walking back to their rooms it seems most of Neverland is now awake. They look out of place in pyjamas now, compared to everyone else. 

"I have a concussion." Mark says.

Jeno nods, "I thought so. You know I did the same thing once, but Nurse Joohyun is really nice."

"Yeah," Mark says, absently. "She is."

The two of them quickly dress and get ready for breakfast, and make it into the cafeteria 5 minutes before closing. From the entrance, Mark can see Renjun and Jaemin sitting together at a table looking distressed, Donghyuck in front of them. He and Jeno grab food - Jeno some cereal, while Mark gets the last plate of pancakes and drizzle of maple syrup, and head to the table. 

Renjun jumps up as soon as he spots them walking and throws his arms around Jeno, before Jaemin follows suit and does the same thing.

"Oh my God. We thought you were Found… when you didn't show up this morning we went to your room and you weren't there either! We were so worried." 

Mark feels more awkward than ever, watching the three of them hug while they ignore him. Donghyuck is looking their way when he looks at him and he laughs and beckons him closer.

"Just leave them to it, Mark. They'll be in this hug for a while. I've heard them both complain about this all morning."

Mark smiles and takes the empty seat next to Donghyuck. "My fault, we went to the nurse."

Donghyuck finally notices the bump on his head and leans in to properly look at it. Suddenly Donghyuck's face is inches from his own and he blushes and leans away, though instantly regrets it when Donghyuck frowns.

"Bumped my head on Jeno's bunk. I have a concussion."

Donghyuck whistles, both impressed with and sympathetic to the injury. "Damn, you really are clumsy." 

Mark doesn't say anything and starts to eat his pancakes. Donghyuck watches him, having finished his own breakfast already. He shoves the last forkful into his mouth just as the clock chimes to signal the closing of the cafeteria and the passing of a new hour. Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin have already disappeared, though Jeno's forgotten bowl of cereal is nowhere to be seen.

He carries his plate to the cleaning area instead of leaving it on the table.

"Looks like it's just us two again," Mark says as they step outside. Today, Neverland is bright and sunny, warm enough to walk around without a jacket. Donghyuck throws his arms back and his face up towards the sun, catching the rays on his skin and for a moment, Mark is mesmerised. Donghyuck is, for lack of a better word, beautiful. 

The sun seems to reflect on his tanned skin, making him glow like the pixies they saw the day before. He would not look out of place with wings, and Mark thinks they would make him look even more majestic than he does already. 

Today, responding to the heat, Donghyuck is wearing shorts and a t-shirt. His legs, shielded from the sun by his own body, still shine like the rest of him. 

Mark has never seen a person so beautiful, and in all honesty he never expected to see Donghyuck covered in sunlight in the first place. 

He knows he's staring. Donghyuck's lips curl up in a slight smirk while his eyes are closed, as if he knows Mark is staring too.

"I guess so," Donghyuck finally says.

"I guess so," Mark repeats.

Donghyuck opens his eyes. Mark looks away. 

There is a pause where Mark feels Donghyuck's eyes on him, though by the time Mark looks back at him, he is looking ahead, towards the mountains.

"Would you like to climb with me, Mark?" 

Mark follows Donghyuck's eyes to the mountains; he saw them up close only once and that only made them look more intimidating than from a distance. He slides his eyes back to look at Donghyuck. 

His head aches from the bump and the thought of climbing to the top of either mountain makes his stomach queasy, but he is nothing if not courageous. 

"Not the middle one," he says, "I don't have the endurance for that."

Donghyuck tilts his head and smiles. "Deal!" 

The climb, if one could call it that, is nothing more than a steep walk to the top with the occasional hazard (stepping between two boulders lodged into the terrain, and lifting themselves up to a high ledge as a shortcut). The whole climb takes less than an hour and Mark has barely broken a sweat when they reach the peak. 

The air here is warmer than on the ground so Mark shrugs off his jacket and ties the arms around his waist, allowing the soft breeze to brush his skin. He stands atop the highest boulder, takes a deep breath and looks out over the landscape before him.

Neverland seems tiny when viewed from the peak of one of the three mountains; Skull Rock, a 15 minute walk by foot on the ground, could probably be reached by plane or helicopter in 30 seconds; in Mermaid Lagoon, the four mermaids that Mark could see looked pea-sized (though their bright hair colours stood out in contrast to the pale blue ocean).

Mark turns back to look at Donghyuck who is now sitting on the ground with his eyes closed yet again, basking in the warm sunshine.

Mark has never been one to enjoy the sun, choosing colder temperatures instead and preferring the night sky; but Donghyuck embodies the sun completely right now, it would be rude to ignore him.

He sits beside Donghyuck, who shuffles over to make room. Donghyuck's eyes remain closed, but his head tilts to one side and begins to hum a soft tune that Mark has never heard before.

"What are you singing?"

Donghyuck stops and peeks his eyes open as if he had completely forgotten that Mark was there. "Oh? Uh, nothing. Just a thing."

Mark tilts his head. "Is it something you wrote?"

Donghyuck's cheeks turn ever so slightly red, though it has gone before Mark even realises. "Not me, someone sang it to me."

"I play the guitar," Mark suddenly thinks and voices out loud. "I have it in my car, actually. I could get it, if you wanted to sing it properly."

Donghyuck's head turns so suddenly it would be comical, if he wasn't so starry-eyed and full of wonder as well. "I," Donghyuck stutters. "I have never seen or heard a guitar before. At least not in person." 

Mark smiles widely, "Really? I could show you, play something. If you wanted me to, of course."

"Wanted to? Of course I do!" Donghyuck stands up and takes hold of Mark's hand, tugging sharply to get him to stand. Mark can't stop himself from giggling at Donghyuck's enthusiasm and he stands just like Donghyuck wants him to. Their hands remain clasped even after Mark has lifted himself to his feet. 

The descent down the mountain is eventful only for the fact that Mark slips on a rock and lands on his ass (so now both his ass and his head is in pain, though it makes Donghyuck laugh). Somewhere along the journey their hands separate. Mark doesn't notice.

Unsurprisingly, Mark's car is the only one parked outside. All the other residents ended up here on foot. He emerges from the trunk clasping the neck of his acoustic guitar. Donghyuck's eyes are trained on it, concentrated. Sparkling. 

"Play something for me," Donghyuck says. It sounds like a demand but the softness in his voice tells Mark he is just curious.

Mark looks around at their surroundings. They are alone in the gravel parking lot, library and dorms behind them. The noise of the island travels to them from the buildings close by. There is also the distant smell of food cooking near the cafeteria. 

There are too many distractions here.

"Take me to that area yesterday, where you left me. It'll be more quiet. I can concentrate there."

"Oh, Cannibal Cove? Sure, it will be empty. No one ever goes there but me."

Mark lifts the guitar over his head and let's the strap rest around his shoulder so it dangles, neck down, on his back. "How come?"

"The waters at the edge of Cannibal Cove have crocodiles. And they are marshy and it smells really bad and it's humid because of all the trees, but it's peaceful."

There is a pause while Donghyuck starts to lead the way back to the dense area.

"There is another urban legend here, that the pirate captain once ventured to the wrong side of the island and his hand was eaten by a crocodile."

"Why only his hand?"

Donghyuck smiles, "Taeyong says someone fought with him, cut it off, and fed it to the crocodile so it would get a taste for his blood. Then the captain wore a hook for a hand and called himself Captain Hook and eventually he either died or left the island."

Mark laughs softly, his guitar knocking against the back of his knees as he walks. "Do you believe it?"

Donghyuck thinks for a moment. "Well, Skull Rock is still there. I swear one time I found a hook buried in the soil near the rock too, but then I could never find it again."

"More magical fairy Neverland stuff," Mark says.

"Yeah," Donghyuck says. 

As predicted, the swampy area is deserted. And it does smell really bad; tropical heat mixed with crocodile waste. Mark wrinkles his nose as they emerge from the trees and walk towards the marsh, and settle together on a spot of dry grass. 

He twists the guitar around so it rests now on his lap and his right arm curves over the body, fingers on his left hand automatically forming chords on the neck. He plucks a few gently, barely making a noise, though Donghyuck watches him with stars in his eyes nonetheless.

Mark feels a little intimidated; he never had an audience before, and certainly never had someone so eager to hear him play. He coughs, feeling awkward. 

"What do you want me to play?" 

"Anything," Donghyuck answers almost immediately, scooting closer in his seat so he doesn't miss a single note. The tension in Mark only grows.

His fingers are calloused from several years of playing that he doesn't feel the rough of the metal strings beneath them. Instead, by memory alone, he begins to play, fingers moving before he even thinks about doing it. 

Donghyuck's eyes don't move. He watches with such intensity that Mark feels if he makes one wrong move, he would visibly deflate. 

The song doesn't have a name. It's something he made himself over the years and never thought to put lyrics to. He would never feel confident enough to sing anyway. 

But as soon as he starts to play, trained from casual guitar lessons as a teenager, Donghyuck hums the same tune from earlier. The two don't really work together, but it's clear the tune is important to Donghyuck, so Mark adjusts his playing to fit. 

The melody, with Donghyuck humming something beautiful and Mark's fingers following suit, is unique, and the first time that Mark has played something new since the song he started with. He feels a spark run up through each of his four fingers and a smile grow on his face, and Donghyuck looks at him with the same level of happiness and enthusiasm. 

This song, whatever it is, is theirs.

Donghyuck finishes, and soon thereafter, Mark does as well. They look at each other for several moments, both smiling, before Donghyuck starts clapping loudly.

"I can't believe I've never heard it before." 

Mark fiddles with a string and it accidentally makes a noise, so he presses his hand on it to silence it. 

"Can you teach me how to play?"

Mark sputters and he looks at Donghyuck, bewildered. "You want to learn?"

"Yes!"

Mark obviously looks dumbfounded because Donghyuck frowns and makes a move to stand up. Mark abruptly grabs his wrist, but his palm burns and he lets it go. 

"No, I mean. Yes. I can teach you, or try to." 

Donghyuck looks from his free wrist to Mark's hand, then to his face, and smiles like he did before. He grabs Mark's hand, tighter than Mark would have liked but he doesn't try to pull it away, and shakes it in agreement.

"Deal!" 

✶✶

Mark is still in Neverland the next day, and the next day, and the day after that too. Monday becomes Tuesday, which soon blends into mid week, and Thursday into Friday into Saturday. And then some.

Monday morning he had been woken abruptly by an alarm at the crack of dawn and he had moaned for nearly fifteen minutes in his bunk before shuffling out of it to prepare for the day ahead. Jaemin had said that he would have to attend school with everyone else, and by the time Monday had rolled around, his words became a distant memory. 

The shrieking alarm and Jeno's early chirpy attitude was a rather rude awakening to real life on the island. His entire weekend of hanging out with Donghyuck in various parts of Neverland seemed light years away by the time he walked tiredly into the cafeteria for breakfast, and then into school in the adjacent building. He can't remember a single thing; much of the information he learned he had already done so in school back home, but suddenly being thrust back into learning after the traumatic experience of getting lost just made his memory worse.

He finished school that week with homework (Mark hasn't even finished his homework from his actual school, let alone this one) and grumpy from a week full of absolutely no free time. Jeno is all smiles as always and the fact that he is always happy kind of gets on Mark's nerves a little bit, but he knows he's being irrational by the time the week ends. 

He apologises to Jeno inside his head. Head!Jeno forgives him.

He did find school somewhat interesting; magic was woven into nearly every subject, so he spent some chemistry classes learning the compound of pixie dust, some history classes learning about Princess Tiger Lili (a magical princess who created Neverland and defended it from ancient monsters) and some literature classes studying the works of J M Barrie (a famous author who first documented Neverland in writing). Other times, it was just regular school stuff. Mark's head is abuzz with all the new information.

On Saturday morning, Mark stretches in bed and buries himself further into his covers. He's determined to spend as much time as possible catching up on the sleep he missed last week. He has just pulled the sheets up to his nose and closed his eyes again, when Donghyuck walks in, completely unannounced.

Mark moans into the blanket and pulls it up higher over his head, holding it down with his hands. Donghyuck stands somewhere in the room, Mark is unsure where, but he feels his eyes on him from below the bed sheets.

"Maaark," his voice sings.

Mark moans louder and curls up, determined to let Donghyuck know he is not interested. 

"Mark, come on!" 

"What?" He says under the blanket, knowing it sounds muffled in the silent room.

"You promised me a guitar lesson."

"Later," he says. "Sleeping."

Donghyuck approaches the bed and pulls hard on the bed sheets, and Mark shrieks and holds on as tightly as he can. 

"No! Donghyuck!" 

"I already told the mermaids you would play for me, they want to hear you play too. I realise you haven't met many mermaids but you should know, you never piss off a mermaid."

Mark let's out a long whine and lifts the cover down to peer at Donghyuck from through the white cotton. "Why did you tell them that? I didn't agree to that!"

Donghyuck grins widely, shrugs his shoulders. 

When Mark doesn't move, Donghyuck pulls on his arm, forcing Mark to shuffle in bed and groan. 

"Please!"

Defeated, Mark sits up and rubs his eyes. "Oh my god, fine!" He yawns, stretches. Donghyuck steps back with a smug smile. 

"Give me five minutes."

Donghyuck skips out of his dorm and shuts the door behind him, smiling prettily. Mark stares at the door for a few seconds before he moves.

Jeno has already left by the time Mark gets out of bed. He expected it; after he has put his clothes on, it's near 10am and the sun is high in the sky. Today's weather is warm too. Mark is unsure if the seasons ever change in Neverland. 

Donghyuck is waiting for him outside the door and he looks impatient. Mark had stuck to his word and was ready in no more than five minutes; had he taken longer, he has a feeling Donghyuck would have burst in and forced him to do it faster.

He is still sleepy, probably would not be properly awake until noon, but that's okay - he knew his guitar like the back of his own hand and before he became Lost, it was attached to him like an extra limb. After he had played for Donghyuck, he kept his guitar in his and Jeno's dorm for safe keeping. 

He approaches Donghyuck with his guitar on his back.

"Mermaid Lagoon?" he says as greeting and Donghyuck nods. His bright smile is still there.

Mark lags a step behind Donghyuck while they walk, but Donghyuck doesn't seem to mind. Mark swears he can see little sparkles under Donghyuck's feet that it almost looks like he's flying just above ground, but he quickly shakes his head to rid himself of the thought. People can't fly.

There are four mermaids out on the rock today, one Mark has not seen before. Yeri, Seulgi and Joy are there and they glance at the two boys as they approach. The new mermaid, who has blue hair, jumps straight into the water and swims underneath it, until she pops her head out at the water's edge in front of them.

"Hi Wendy," Donghyuck says. The mermaid - Wendy - flicks her tail in the water and creates a splash behind her. The three other mermaids jump as well, following Wendy's path, and emerge in a row at their feet. 

If Mark felt intimidated by Donghyuck's stare last week, he feels even worse now. Not only does he have to impress Donghyuck for a second time, but four mermaids too. Donghyuck's words ring in his head. Never piss off a mermaid. 

He gulps.

"Come to play a song for us, Mark? Donghyuck says you're very good," Seulgi says. Mark glances over; the tips of Donghyuck's ears are red.

"Yeah, he talked about you all morning," Yeri says, and her eyes are wide with cheek and laughter.

"He says you made a song together," Joy says, flicking her red hair behind her with a playful smile. The mermaids' exaggerated words makes Mark shy, for some reason.

He coughs. Donghyuck is silent beside him. 

"Y-yes, well. I'm alright. We did make a bit of a song together." He scratches his nape, flustered from the compliments, and fiddles with the strings. 

"Play it for us!" Wendy shouts and she tilts her head, giving Mark such an intense look he feels himself blushing. He nods, or just barely.

He nudges Donghyuck in the side. As if on cue, he begins to hum the same tune from last week.

Mark's fingers automatically rest on the metal strings and begin to play. They performed this song together only once, but it sticks in Mark's mind and muscle memory like glue. 

The four mermaids watch, tails curled behind them out of the water. 

Actually performing the song together is quite easy, but Mark has to remember not to look at either Donghyuck or the mermaids in case he makes a mistake. 

They finish at the same time and Donghyuck bows as the mermaids begin to clap. Mark's hands rest on the body of his guitar and fiddles with his own fingers, unsure of what to do with them. 

Donghyuck looks at him and Mark feels his fingers wrap around his arm and tug. Donghyuck seems to do this a lot when he wants to get away from a situation. 

"Well," Mark clears his throat. "Thank you for listening. I promised him I'd teach him, so." 

He gestures behind him with his thumb and Donghyuck tugs his arm again. He can feel eight pairs of mermaid eyes on the two of them.

"Have fun, boys," Joy says before she dips below the water and swims away. Mark can see the red of her hair underwater. 

"Yeah, have fun," Yeri says too, and she waves with a playful smile before she is gone too. Seulgi and Wendy say nothing but do acknowledge their goodbyes by creating bigger splashes than the two before them. They don't dock themselves on the rock this time; Mark sees their figures underwater beyond it, as if swimming away to some undiscovered ocean.

"I think it'd be pretty nice to be a merman," Mark muses aloud.

Donghyuck scoffs, "no way. They're vain as anything. All they do, all day, is sit out on the rock and catch the sun. Their dad, the Merking, never comes out of the castle. I've never seen him."

Mark smiles, "how do you know they're telling the truth if you have never seen him?"

Donghyuck is silent for a moment. "Huh, good point. But mermaids have no reason to lie, they've lived here way longer than me."

They spend several seconds just staring at the rock; the waves there are not as perilous today, though still quite rough. The sound of the sea is comforting. 

"The lesson," Donghyuck says and tugs on Mark's arm for the third time this morning. Mark smiles at his impatience.

"Back to Cannibal Cove?"

Donghyuck nods his head.

Of all places in Neverland that Mark has seen, Cannibal Cove is probably his least favourite. It smells funny and it's hotter than any other part of the island, and there is always the risk of a hungry crocodile coming out of the murky waters to feast on the hand of another Lost Boy, but Donghyuck seems to like it, if only because it's the most peaceful and undisturbed area for miles.

It is the perfect place for a lesson, because there are no human or non-human onlookers, no noises, no chance of being interrupted. 

He is alone with Donghyuck in Neverland's nothing, and it calms him completely.

The grass they sat on last week is still flattened when they approach it, so they take the same spots. Mark hadn't really planned what each lesson would consist of, but he rests the guitar on his legs anyway, thinking. Donghyuck sits opposite him, attentive.

"So, uh. Anatomy of a guitar, I guess?"

Mark gestures to the tip where the metal keys stick out. "These are tuning keys."

He slides his fingers down the long wooden part. "The neck, and these little metal bars," Mark gestures to them, "are frets. You play chords here and frets help your fingers find the right spots."

He slides his fingers down further to the large, hollow part. "This is the body with the sound hole. This is what actually makes the sound."

"And the strings. You pluck them down here," Mark demonstrates by pulling one of the six strings on the body, which makes a noise. "And you arrange your fingers here," Mark splits his fingers into a simple chord on the neck and strums again, and this time the sound is different, "which makes a chord." 

Donghyuck's eyes the entire time remain focussed on Mark's hands. He watches with the same intensity of the first time they did this, with such a strong gaze that Mark feels his palms sweat. He rubs them on his pants, hoping he would not notice.

If he does notice, he doesn't say anything about it.

"The best way to learn guitar, is to learn a few simple chords first. A lot of songs have these chords so you could learn the whole thing, easy," he twists the guitar on his lap and holds it out for Donghyuck to take. He does so, but with wide eyes as if scared he will break it. He rests the guitar on his lap with the front facing outwards, just like Mark had done, and he puts his hands everywhere, unsure of where to keep them.

"Like this," Mark shuffles closer on his butt and takes Donghyuck's left hand, presses it to the neck of the guitar, and carefully moves his fingers into the first chord. Donghyuck's hands are soft and warm and relaxed as he seems to let Mark do what he wants, and he helps Donghyuck's left hand into position as well. 

"That's A," Mark says as he looks up with a smile. 

Mark's hand lingers on Donghyuck's a little longer than necessary. He doesn't notice.

Donghyuck looks from their touching hands, back to Mark's face, then smiles himself. 

"Play the note. Right hand." 

Donghyuck does as told. The sound rings out in the forest surrounding them; it's slightly odd, not quite right, and definitely too loud. But Donghyuck's eyes light up anyway and Mark knows this whole thing - waking up early, sacrificing sleep - was worth it in that moment. 

It isn't perfect, there is room for improvement, but Mark is patient by nature and if it means seeing Donghyuck smile like this every time they meet for a lesson, well, Mark is willing to go as slow as possible. 

"Well done," he says and nods his head, feeling himself smile just as wide as Donghyuck does. If there is one other thing he has learned about him since they met, it's that he practically lives for praise. Every compliment that Mark has given him so far (from his drawings on the bathroom doors, to this, his first ever attempt at playing guitar) has coloured Donghyuck's cheeks a brilliant pink, has turned his smug smile into a soft one, has replaced his teasing with tenderness. 

A tiny, tiny part of Mark that he is not going to acknowledge tingles with happiness. 

Donghyuck pulls his fingers out from under Mark's, the tips of his ears slightly pink. Mark wiggles them, only then realising that he held them there far too long. 

The lesson continued for another hour until Donghyuck started to complain his fingers hurt from being pushed into the metal strings. He whined each time Mark would adjust his fingers so eventually, Mark brought it to a close and they agreed to meet again another day to learn some more. 

They spent the rest of the day together, after Mark put his guitar back in his and Jeno's room; after dinner that evening (Mark has definitely gained weight from eating like a king every night, but honestly he doesn't really care) Donghyuck had dragged him to Marooner's Rock for the second time that day. 

The mermaids are no longer out basking in the warm evening air when they get there. Mark can only assume they are beneath the waves, in their underwater kingdom. Everyone else on the island has retreated to their dorms so the rest of it is quiet and the only sounds Mark can hear are waves crashing against the rock, the quiet birdsong in the trees, and Donghyuck's steady breathing beside him. 

Donghyuck has seen the sunset above them thousands of times, but if the way his eyes twinkle when he looks at it is anything to go by, Mark guesses he's been in love with the night sky for a long time now. Perhaps it's a romantic thing for him - maybe the sunset reminds him of home, or what little he remembers of it. Maybe the sunset is his chance to sit in quiet and reflect, be at peace. Maybe the sunset is a work of art to him. Or maybe, simply, tradition. 

Mark doesn't really understand why Donghyuck's eyes light up so much looking at the same sun, the same sky, but then again Mark has never been much of a sentimental person. It must hold some meaning for him, in the same way he wakes up early every morning just to see the sunrise. 

Donghyuck has grown up in Neverland. Maybe seeing the sunset is his sense of normalcy, since everything about their lives here is anything but normal. 

Mark realises far too late that he has been staring as the orange sunlight paints Donghyuck's skin in more colour. More warmth. Somewhere, again, Mark feels a lurch in the centre of his chest. He knows what it means, but chooses to ignore it. 

The day closes in front of their eyes, and with it, the night opens. By the time the sun has set completely, they have been at the rock for over an hour, in total silence. It's not quite dark enough to see the stars yet, but maybe that's for another night, much later. 

They walk back to the dorms in total silence too, the only sounds their footsteps on the grass. The silence is comforting instead of deafening. They only speak to greet each other good night at the entrance to the dorm building; Mark goes one way while Donghyuck goes the other. 

Jeno is awake when Mark enters, and both Renjun and Jaemin have squeezed into his bunk with him. They seem to be watching something on Jeno's laptop screen. He waves, but they don't seem to notice, so instead he crawls into his own bunk, shuffles down under the blankets, puts earphones in and plays music until his eyes droop naturally in the dark of the room.

He falls asleep that night to the sound of Drake in his ears, but with the sight of a boy with soft orange skin and warm brown hair behind his eyelids. 

✶✶

Donghyuck wakes Mark up the following morning too, demanding even more time alone together to practice, and he even steals Mark’s attention over weekday evenings. By the end of the week, they have perfected their song and can both sing and play unaided where it has absorbed into their memory. 

The guitar lessons continue, too, and although Donghyuck still ends each lesson complaining about the ache in his fingertips from the metal strings, he does get better, and the length of their lessons gradually get longer. He manages to play a few simple chords back to back and does so seamlessly, and with each improvement, it only elevates Donghyuck’s mood. Mark spends every day watching his smile grow wider. 

It’s weird to think that a month passes. Donghyuck occupies every spare moment of Mark’s day, weekday or weekend, with guitar lessons or mountain climbing or studying or even just existing in the same space, together. It’s easy being around him, and around their friends in general, and Mark is happy. He never wants this to end.

There is a weird atmosphere at breakfast one Sunday morning. Jaemin and Renjun are already at the table when Mark and Jeno arrive (which is unusual enough since in the time Mark has been at Neverland, he hasn’t seen Jaemin for more than five minutes in the mornings) and they seem to be in deep conversation, Mark feels guilty for interrupting. 

Jeno has a big smile on his face, though, so he must be happy to see them.

Donghyuck is sat with them, just eating and clearly not paying attention to what anyone is saying. Mark watches Jeno slide into the seat next to Renjun and both he and Jaemin look at him with smiles mirroring his own. 

He catches Donghyuck’s eye from where he is standing. He looks amused, rolls his eyes at the weird show of affection happening in front of them, and mouths “don’t ask”. Mark laughs and nods his head, though he knows when he gets five minutes alone with Donghyuck later he won’t be able to stop himself asking.

Mark quickly grabs some food - scrambled eggs and bacon - and takes it back to the table. He slides naturally into the only spare seat, next to Donghyuck. It’s strange that in a short space of time, he has fallen into routine and become part of this group of friends. His heart lurches thinking of any of them, or in fact himself, ever being Found. He thinks of back home, of his mom and dad and brother, and his heart does another lurch, this time of guilt. 

“I had a weird dream last night,” Donghyuck says as Mark starts to eat. He doesn’t wait for Mark to ask why before he launches into a recount of it.

“You were there, and me,” - something in Mark’s mind startles at the thought of he dreamt about me - “and we were here, but something was different. We found a hole in the ground and climbed into it and it was the exit. The exit out of Neverland. But when we climbed out on the other side, everything suddenly changed and there were pirates with big beards and we were able to fly and we fought the pirates, you and me together. And then I woke up.”

Mark listens attentively until the end, then snorts with laughter. Donghyuck starts to laugh too. 

“You’ve lived here way too long. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.”

“And-”

Donghyuck is about to say something else when his eyes focus elsewhere and his smile drops and he audibly gasps, and Mark turns his head to follow his gaze. Renjun seems to have noticed too, even deep in conversation with Jaemin and Jeno, and he nudges them both to stop talking. 

The whole table looks to a boy standing in the centre of the cafeteria. He too looks back at them, equally as astounded, though Mark has never been more confused. 

“That’s impossible,” Donghyuck says quietly to himself beside him. “He… what?” 

Mark looks between them both for a while. Clearly Donghyuck knows the boy they are all staring at, but how? Who is he? The boy gestures something to the table, though Mark has a feeling he’s singled out Donghyuck and the message is meant for him and him alone. He frowns.

Donghyuck is suddenly on his feet and he’s out of the cafeteria before anyone can stop him, and the boy has chased after him before Mark even has chance to register what’s happening. 

Renjun murmurs a soft “oh shit” to himself, quickly pushes his unfinished food to the middle of the table, and disappears out of the cafeteria himself. Jeno and Jaemin give Mark an apologetic look, one that says they will explain later, then do the same and follow Renjun out.

Mark’s heart does another tiny, sad lurch at being left alone and confused and he pushes his plate to the middle of the table like everyone else, appetite gone. He had not felt lonely in Neverland yet, even when he first arrived. Donghyuck filled his weekends and school filled his weekdays, and with both of them keeping him busy he simply hadn’t had time to feel lonely. Now, sitting alone in a crowded cafeteria with nothing in front of him but the uneaten food remains of the people who sat there, he feels it. There are no eyes on him, he knows this, but he can’t help feeling silly anyway. 

He is careful to leave the cafeteria in silence.

There is no sign of Donghyuck, the boy or any of their friends outside of the building, nor anywhere near. Donghyuck is somewhere else on the island, probably a big distance away from where Mark is right now, and the worst thing is Mark has absolutely no idea what his reaction to the new boy is supposed to mean. He hates it, but he feels a stab of jealousy; angry at himself, he pushes it out of mind. 

Mark sighs and goes back to his dorm, defeated.

It's several hours before Jeno returns to his and Mark's dorm. He's alone, though, and Mark peeks at him from his bed when he arrives. His face is expressionless. 

He looks at Mark, unreadable.

"What happened? Is everything okay?"

Jeno seems to hesitate for a few moments before he stalls to take off his shoes and place them nearby. He doesn't answer after that.

"Jeno? Who was that guy at breakfast? Is he new?"

Jeno sighs softly, "I can't tell you, it's not for me to say."

Mark gets it, he does. Jeno and Donghyuck have lived here much longer than Mark has so they have grown close. They're best friends. Obviously there is a reason why Donghyuck ran at the sight of the new boy, good or bad, and it's none of Mark's business, but there is still a tiny part of him, unreasonable as that part may be, that feels a little left out with all the secrecy. 

He nods anyway.

Jeno looks at him for a little longer, frowning, but says no more. 

"Where is he? Donghyuck, I mean?" 

Jeno hesitates again. 

"Sorry, Mark, I can't tell you." 

Mark sighs again and dips his head down. 

The ache in his chest, a mix of worry, sadness, anger and jealousy, only gets stronger.

"If it makes you feel any better," Mark lifts his head to look at Jeno, "Jaemin and I are just as confused as you. I mean, we know a little more, but not as much as Renjun. That's why Renjun is with him, and not us." 

This does very little to make him feel better, but he appreciates the effort. 

"And where's the new guy?"

Jeno frowns.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him since this morning."

Somehow, the knowledge that Donghyuck hasn't been spending the whole day with this newcomer dims his ache a little bit. The jealousy faucet in his mind turns itself off. 

That's all that Jeno and Mark say to each other; it doesn't take long for Jeno to change the subject and after that, for the day to draw to a close and the sun to set and the stars to come out. 

Mark can't see the stars from his bed as he faces away from the window, but as he closes his eyes he thinks of the stars his mother painted around their house back home, the stars he remembers having stuck to his ceiling when he was a baby, the stars in Donghyuck's eyes watching the sunset. 

For the first time, he lets himself think about him, feelings unrestrained. Jeno is asleep above him so he knows it's okay, he won't be caught. He thinks about his smile every morning at breakfast as he grabs his food and makes jokes with Renjun next to him. His laugh that weekday evening when they decided to sit and do homework together in the library, trying his best to conceal the noise with his hands over his mouth. The warmth of his skin as Mark adjusted his fingers on the strings of his guitar for the tenth time; despite the rough strings, his hands were still smooth, which is more than could be said for Mark's after years of callus. 

He inhales sharply, finally allowing himself to understand. 

Mark has not liked anyone for a while, and he certainly never expected it here in Neverland of all places. The one place where feelings are dangerous. He isn't sure to what extent, or how deep, they go. But what he does know, for sure and without any shadow of a doubt, is that he likes Donghyuck. As more than a friend.

He exhales. He's not quite satisfied. In fact, he's scared of the outcome. One day, one of them will leave and the ache he felt earlier today creeps back into his chest. 

But for now, he's okay. Donghyuck is somewhere on the island with Renjun, whereabouts unknown but safe, and so is he, wrapped up in blankets in his bed. 

It's enough.

✶✶

Donghyuck is not at breakfast the next day, but Renjun is, seemingly back to normal after what happened yesterday. He is already eating his morning eggs when Mark approaches the table, Jeno only footsteps behind him. 

Jeno slides in next to Renjun (which is unusual enough, because Donghyuck normally sits there) and it kind of looks to Mark like they are holding hands under the table. Mark doesn't question it.

He leaves them alone to grab some food, and when he comes back they are talking in hushed voices again, not quite loud enough for Mark to hear so he ignores them. When Jaemin arrives, 10 minutes later, he sits opposite Renjun and they talk among themselves. 

Mark's heart does another lonely tug and he eats in silence. He knows they don't mean to exclude him because clearly they have a thing together as the three of them and they are obviously working out the dynamics of their … friendship? relationship? but Mark wishes for Donghyuck's company more than ever.

Mark doesn't see Donghyuck during class either, or at all that day. For a fleeting second, Mark worries that Donghyuck has been Found; he voices this to Jaemin, but Jaemin shakes his head and assures him that he is still here. Then where is he?, his mind asks on repeat over and over again. Just let him gather his thoughts, another part of his brain answers.

He goes to the library after class that day to do his homework and half expects (wants) to see Donghyuck on his chair, focussed on his designs or something, but he isn't there. Still, Mark sits on the seat next to Donghyuck's just in case, but ends up leaving alone when he's done.

Donghyuck is not at the table at dinner either, but Mark sort of expected that. He sits with Renjun, Jaemin and Jeno once again and they talk with him this time, so Mark doesn't quite feel so lonely. 

Walking back to their dorm, Renjun and Jaemin having gone the other direction, Mark decides to ask.

"Are you and Renjun dating?"

Jeno immediately sputters and his ears and cheeks turn red. "Wha-- What makes you think that?"

Mark smiles, "you're always together, whispering. You smiled really big when you saw him yesterday and you held his hand under the table today."

Mark is not sure they held hands, but he takes his chances.

Jeno balks, "you saw that? Damn, I thought we were subtle."

Mark grins, "so it's true?"

Jeno hesitates, "well. Kind of. Yes. Maybe. But don't tell anyone."

Mark laughs and pretends to zip his lips shut.

"Does Jaemin know?"

This time Jeno laughs, sort of shrugs his shoulders. "Uh, we are kind of dating him too." 

Mark pauses, hand about to push open their dorm. He had not been expecting that.

"Dude, seriously?"

Jeno shrugs, "yeah, kind of. It's complicated."

Mark enters their dorm and holds the door open for Jeno. They both take their shoes off in the entrance. 

"What about Donghyuck? You're not dating him too are you?"

Jeno snorts and shakes his head, "no, he's all yours." 

Mark's brain stops and he freezes, hands on his shoelaces. He isn't even sure if he heard Jeno right, but he can't stop his cheeks from turning pink and he panics.

"I-- what? I don't--" 

Jeno laughs and pats Mark's shoulder. He feels himself shrink in embarrassment.

"It was a joke, Mark. Don't worry."

Mark stands. "A joke, oh," he coughs and nods his head, "yeah, I know." 

He can feel Jeno's eyes on him, boring into the back of his head as he shuffles across the room, grabs his laptop from the desk and climbs into his bunk. Jeno soon disappears above into his own bunk, and doesn't say anything else about Donghyuck, but Mark's heart races long after the end of the conversation. 

He isn't there at breakfast the next day either, and that's when concern starts to grow in Mark. He hasn't known Donghyuck long and he knows this, but having spent hours and hours with him every day in his time here, him disappearing for two days is unusual, and something must have really affected him.

"You alright?" Renjun nudges his arm at breakfast and Marks snaps out of his thoughts and looks at him. He hadn't eaten a thing; instead, he swirled his spoon around his bowl of cereal aimlessly, distracted.

"Yeah," he says. He's not really fine, because he can't stop worrying, but Renjun doesn't need to know that.

Renjun pauses for a moment. Jeno and Jaemin are talking amongst themselves, none the wiser.

"You're worried about Donghyuck aren't you?"

Mark's eyebrows rise into his hairline.

"What--? How did you guess?"

Renjun smiles softly, "it's written all over your face, Mark."

Mark internally panics for a second. If Renjun can guess this, what else can he guess?

He continues, "I can't tell you about what happened. Or where he is. He has to deal with something on his own. But, he's okay. He will come back."

Mark guesses he visibly relaxes because Renjun smiles at him again. The new guy appears in his vision, grabbing some breakfast. Renjun turns to look at him too.

"Who is he?" Mark knows he's pushing his luck by asking.

Renjun turns back, biting his lower lip and obviously unsure of how to answer. He thinks for a few moments.

"I promised him I wouldn't tell…" 

Mark sighs and nods his head, going back to playing with his spoon.

"But," Renjun continues in a quiet voice, "I can't stop you from figuring it out on your own. Think hard about it. Something special to him."

As Renjun finishes speaking, the morning bell rings and he stands up, pushing his unfinished food to the centre of the table. Jeno and Jaemin do the same and the four of them walk out onto the sandy terrain outside. 

Renjun's words ring in his head. His clue is vague but Renjun told him to think, so think he would. 

He looks away as Jeno kisses Renjun and Jaemin once each, then when they have walked off together in the direction of their class, Jeno joins Mark and they walk to theirs. They part ways when Mark reaches his History class and Jeno goes off to his Chemistry. 

New guy is in Mark's history class, several seats in front. Mark stares at the back of his head, focusing on a strand of hair that's sticking out the wrong way, and thinks. 

Mark would remember meeting this boy, or seeing him before, he knows that for certain. He scans through his memories before Neverland for his face anyway, curious if perhaps they crossed paths; it's foggy, filled instead with images of his new existence here, but still in the flashes of Life Before Neverland, he finds nothing.

He doesn't figure anything out by the end of the class, nor in his next one (Math) and not during lunch either, even with Renjun sat in front of him. His next class, Art, he just fiddles with a pencil and pretends to be interested, and in his final class, English, he catches brief things from the teacher but for the most part, zones out and tries to piece Renjun's clue together, but comes up short.

The teacher gives them homework, some kind of research they have to do, so he leaves for the library with even more frustration than he felt this morning. He bypasses Donghyuck's chair, knowing he won't be there, and goes straight to the second floor and secures himself a table there. 

He tries, he really does; he lays out all the books he can find over the table, pen in hand positioned ready to write above his notebook, and he does write some things (the date, and a few bullet points) but he can't concentrate. His mind buzzes. Renjun's loyalty to Donghyuck's secret is admirable, of course, and if Mark was in his position he would have done the same thing, but he wishes he never gave him the option of using his brain. Renjun clearly doesn't understand Mark's determination to get the answer.

Eventually, after forty minutes of forcing himself to attempt the homework, Mark gets up, leaves his table and goes to the bathroom. As he stands at the first sink, looking at his reflection in the mirror before running the water, he glances at the cubicles behind him, all four of them open. It was a while since he was here, but then Donghyuck was with him. Is it intrusive to look at his artwork without him here? he asks himself. His brain replies, it's a public bathroom, and that's all the persuasion he needs.

Mark goes in the first cubicle and sits. Nothing has changed because these doors haven't been doodled on in a while and over that time, the ink has dried and sort of faded from the wood. But Mark looks anyway. Like the last time, his vision focuses on one drawing in particular: two boys, on the three peaks. They look happy, peaceful, even if their faces are hidden. 

He stands, closes the door behind him, and goes into cubicle two. This one has the same two boys on Marooner's Rock while the mermaids stare at them. The third has, again, the same boys, faces hidden. Mark goes into the fourth and final cubicle, and stares at the doodle of the two boys kissing, the climax of the story. In all the drawings, they wear Neverland uniforms.

It clicks. Mark gasps.

"Holy shit," he says aloud. 

The drawings felt so intimate the first time Mark laid eyes on them, and now Mark has pieced them all together, they feel even more so. Donghyuck drew these not from memory, not from personally witnessing them, but from a different perspective. As if looking in, from a point of view not his own. 

He exits the cubicle, washes his hands, goes back out to his table. Everything is exactly how he left it, but there is no way Mark can work anymore (not that he did a good job of keeping focussed today anyway). He grabs his belongings, leaves the books where they are and goes downstairs to the front door.

Johnny is working at the front desk and he gives Mark a polite wave as he leaves. 

The bell goes off to signal dinner, but Mark ignores it, bypasses the large crowd gathered outside of the cafeteria, and heads straight past them into the trees. He needs to confirm his theory before he takes it to Renjun, and the interaction with the mermaids on his first day had sprung to mind. (At some point, Donghyuck had introduced a person to them, that was not part of their friendship group now. Though what happened to them, Mark could only guess). 

The walk to Mermaid Lagoon is long, and he finally reaches the sea after almost twenty minutes. It's getting dark, with the sun setting over the rock, and sure enough the mermaids are out soaking in the last of the day rays. 

Mark approaches the water's edge. Two of the mermaids, Seulgi and Joy, catch his eye and quickly jump down underwater and emerge at his feet, curious to the interruption. 

"Mark, what brings you here?" Joy asks.

Mark crouches down, level with their eyesight. "I need your help."

Seulgi crosses her arms on the edge of the rock and extends her body so her tail curls up out of the water. It would be intimidating to a newcomer, almost an act of display, but Mark is unphased.

"It's about Donghyuck," he says. Joy copies Seulgi's position. Mark takes a single step backwards.

"And why should we help you, Mark?" She says. There's an element of playfulness to her question.

"Because," he starts. He hadn't really thought this far ahead, or planned for any resistance. "I will write a song for you. Just for you. And sing it. Solo." 

The two of them seem to think for a moment before Seulgi nods her head. "You have a deal." 

Mark smiles. Vanity wins. 

"Donghyuck brought another boy to meet you. You told me on my first day. Who was he and what relationship did he have with him?"

Joy answers. "The last boy Donghyuck brought to meet us, besides you, was Yangyang. He was a lost boy like everyone else. They started off the same way you and he did, strangers and then friends."

"And then? Did something change?"

This time, Seulgi speaks. "They came to see us a lot together. And sometimes they just came to the lagoon, but not to interact with us. I can't measure human time, but they did this a lot."

Joy again. "Donghyuck called him a boyfriend."

Mark's heart freezes and he sucks in a breath, holding it so it's not obvious how much the statement affected him. Seulgi notices and smirks at him. 

"But then they stopped coming and it was only Donghyuck on his own. He came to see us, and to the lagoon, but never again with Yangyang."

Mark blinks and frowns. "Do you know what happened to him?"

"He was Found, most likely. Donghyuck said he was unhappy because he didn't come back for him." 

Mark pauses for a moment to think. He plays with his fingers. "He is here again. He came back for him."

Joy's eyebrows shoot up into her hairline and she drops her tail, making a huge splash in the sea behind her. "No one has ever come back. Who would be silly enough to get lost twice?" 

"Him, apparently."

Seulgi smiles, clearly enjoying the situation. "Humans are messy," she says.

Mark nods in agreement. 

"Thank you," he stands and wipes his knees. 

"Don't forget our payment, Mark," Joy says. "Our services do not come cheap."

He smiles sheepishly. He plans to follow up with the idea, but has no idea when. The mermaids don't need to know this, though. 

"I won't."

Mark watches as they both kick their tails again then dive down under the threatening water. Their bright hair colours reflect back until they have swam so far deep that he can no longer see.

He sighs, turns around and heads back towards the cafeteria. If he ran he would be able to make the last call before dinner so he would still be able to get some food, but, appetite gone, he decides not to. 

His theory was right, though deep down he knew it would be, and Donghyuck's drawings were self portraits. Him and the other boy - Yangyang. He is not jealous; what bothers him is the knowledge that Yangyang is the only person to ever come back, and he has come back for Donghyuck.

He knew this day would come and obviously for the life of a lost boy, being Found is the equivalent of a second birthday, a four-day Christmas… but he hoped selfishly that it wouldn't be so soon. He knows now to start preparing his goodbyes - Donghyuck could go at any moment, every single memory of him erased from Neverland, and that kind of hurts.

He can't even begin to imagine how Donghyuck must feel to be faced with this ultimatum.

The walk back is silent, and Mark goes straight to the dorms and waits outside of Renjun's room for him to return from dinner. He does so alone; Jeno and Jaemin are obviously together tonight.

"I know," Mark says as soon as Renjun is about to speak. Renjun looks nervous and bites his lip, and lets Mark into his room. "I put all the pieces together and then asked the mermaids and they confirmed."

Renjun sighs, "Mark, I'm sorry we couldn't tell you."

"I need to see him. Today. Please."

He knows he's begging at this point, but what else can he do? The new kid - Yangyang, Mark keeps reminding himself - could be leading him to the exit this very second. Before he leaves forever… Mark at least needs to say goodbye. 

"Mark," Renjun says. "He told me not to tell…"

"Please," he tries again. "It's urgent."

Renjun struggles with his loyalty for several moments before he sighs in defeat and drops to his knees, using the excuse of taking off his shoes to speak in a low voice, even quieter than his normal speaking voice.

"The tree," he says. 

The only place on the island Mark has never tried to visit, at least inside. From the outside it appeared ugly.

Mark says a quick thank you to Renjun as he busts out of the door, out of the dorm building and out into the dusk; the sun has disappeared completely now, replaced instead with tiny twinkling stars. There is no moon tonight so the stars shine on their own, not overshadowed.

The tree is surprisingly close to the living quarters of the island; clearly Peter (Taeyong?) wanted to keep his distance but maintain some kind of authority over everything. But why of all places Donghyuck decided to reside here, Mark has no idea. 

Since Mark last saw the tree, it decayed even more, with a large hole now part of the trunk facing him. There are spider webs (with spiders on them, Mark adds) along some of the dead wood, and Mark gingerly pulls them away when he approaches the trunk and looks down the opening at the top. There is a light, and some kind of noise inside. Talking. Mark strains his ears to listen to anything familiar, but it's too faint to hear voices or individual words.

He kicks hard on the wooden trunk with his foot and the talking stops.

"Hello," a voice rises up through the tree trunk and out of the end. It's not familiar.

"Hi, I need to see Donghyuck." 

Mark admittedly feels a little silly, talking down into a rotten tree stump. Even for Neverland standards, this is weird. 

A second goes by before - miraculously - Donghyuck's voice floats up through the tree trunk, echoing. 

"Mark?" He sounds surprised. "How did you find me? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?" 

"Can I come in? I need to speak to you." 

Donghyuck pauses for a moment. "Climb as if you're going to sit on the edge of the hole in the middle, then make yourself fall. You'll land soft."

If Mark felt ridiculous talking through the middle of the tree, he feels even more so pushing himself down the hole inside. It would have been easier to fall down a rabbit hole.

He sits on the edge, feet dangling down the middle and forces himself forward.

He falls, and then he lands. The middle part of the trunk takes no more than two seconds to travel down, and Donghyuck's right - he lands on a pillow strategically placed below it.

The inside - Mark must assume this is where Peter lives - is quirky to say the least, but exceptionally organised. He sits on the pillow for a second to gather himself, but allows himself to be curious. There is a small kitchen area, barely big enough for one person, painted a warm brown colour, followed by an even smaller dining table and two chairs. On the other side, a little further along the wall, there is a large squishy sofa, cushions plump. In front of it, a wooden coffee table with two cups on green coasters. There is not much else in this room, except a large blanket covering the area where Mark assumes there is a bed, and a wooden door not far from it, clearly the bathroom. 

And there, in the middle of the room, is Donghyuck. He's not wearing his usual smile; instead, he looks surprised.

Next to him is a man Mark has never met nor seen. He's dressed head to toe in green pants and a green shirt and he even wears a green hat. Mark assumes this is Taeyong (Peter, he reminds himself). 

"Mark," Donghyuck begins, but Mark holds up a hand to stop him, and he stands to his feet.

He stops immediately.

"Donghyuck, I need to say something," he starts. His heart hammers in his chest, threatening to shatter his ribcage. 

He takes a breath in. Both Peter and Donghyuck share a look, but neither say anything.

"It hasn't been that long since we met. But, I wanted to say that," - Mark rubs his nape, kind of wishing the ground would swallow him up at this very moment - "I'm really thankful we met. It made my first couple of days here bearable. I still miss my family, but Neverland is my safe space right? And I came here for a reason. So I couldn't not say goodbye." 

Donghyuck's eyes widen and he takes a step forward, arms outstretched. "What?! Mark-" 

Mark continues, unphased, though still just as nervous.

"I mean, it was really nice meeting you. And Jeno and Jaemin and Renjun and I," Mark hesitates, "will miss you… like a lot. But this is for the best right?"

Donghyuck's eyes, rather than turning gleeful like Mark assumed they would, instead turn to sadness and briefly he looks like he might cry, though the emotion is replaced with mild anguish as quickly as it came. "What? No, you-"

"And it's not like we can't see each other again, is it? Or talk? We can still do those things. The guitar lessons too, when I get out-"

Donghyuck sighs. It sounds like he's holding back. "I knew it would happen. You've got a good family, they have probably been looking for you since you went missing. You should go quickly, don't keep them waiting."

Mark stops, completely unprepared for the turn of events. "I- I'm not leaving. I thought you were leaving."

Donghyuck stands and stares at him for a long time. It feels like several minutes before he speaks again.

"Mark, I've been here ten years. I've seen all my friends over the years come and go, and no one has ever been here as long as me. No one is looking for me. No one."

Towards the end of his sentence his voice cracks until his final words come out in haunting high pitch, spoken from the throat of a person too choked to speak normally. 

"Yangyang came back for you."

Donghyuck laughs. He tries to wipe at his cheeks, but it's futile; there are tear tracks down them already.

"But he was too late," he says in the same high pitched voice. "I would have gone with him months ago. I really liked him, and only recently I got over it. Over him. He left me with false promises, Mark. Like everyone else on this fucking island."

This is the first time Mark has heard him cuss. It stabs him in the gut.

"And you just came here and gave that speech about missing me, making me think you were leaving too." There's a sob somewhere in his voice and it breaks Mark's heart that he's the cause. "I can forgive thinking Yangyang had good intentions coming back for me six months too late, but this was really fucking cruel, Mark." 

He turns away, visibly shaking. Mark wants nothing more than to embrace him. Taeyong (Peter) wanders towards Donghyuck and comfortingly pats his shoulder. 

"Please leave," he says. "I can't talk to you right now."

Mark stands there, watching Donghyuck cry with his back turned. Taeyong gestures to the entrance with his hand, and Mark knows he's not welcome anymore. 

He stands on the pillow at the bottom of the tree trunk, bends his knees and jumps, and the pixie dust flies him to the hole at the top so he can climb out.

The image of Donghyuck with teary eyes haunts him for the rest of the night.

✶✶

Mark doesn't sleep a wink that night, and he spends all of the next day with dark circles under his eyes. He speaks to no one, not even Renjun or Jaemin or Jeno, and Donghyuck is (obviously) nowhere to be found. 

Time in Neverland seems to stop. The days blur together, one after the other, and each night is a continuous ache that Mark can't get rid of. By the end of the week, Mark still hasn't really slept, hasn't really spoken to anyone, and hasn't really left his room. 

Jeno brings him homework and lets Mark borrow his notes everyday so that he doesn't slack while he isn't attending school, but by now even Jeno has heard of what happened, presumably from Donghyuck himself, and has started giving Mark space when he's in the dorm. 

Mark feels lonelier than ever before. He's not even sure that he has friends anymore, since Renjun and Jaemin don't hang out at his dorm anymore with Jeno, and Jeno is hardly ever there. 

He hasn't even seen Donghyuck to be able to apologise, so he's not sure what to do about that. He goes to breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and hopes that Donghyuck will be there but he never is, and this time he knows Renjun won't tell him where he is instead. He's tried all the key places - the mountains, Mermaid Lagoon, Pixie Hollow, the tree, Cannibal Cove - but nothing, no trace of Donghyuck anywhere. He knows he fucked up. He was stupid and hurt him, and now he has to deal with it.

He gets bored of looking at the inside of his room (and also the homework starts to pile up under his bed and he's anxious about how much he has to do) so Mark heads to the library one morning. He doesn't know what day it is, but the library is pretty empty when he enters so he assumes it's a weekday and the vast majority of people are in school. 

Johnny greets him on the front desk. "Hey, Mark. You're not in school today?"

Mark shakes his head, "uh, no. I'm sick." He fakes a cough so Johnny can see he's telling the truth, though Johnny isn't fooled. 

"Uh huh, sure. You seem pretty down, though. Everything alright?"

Mark must've looked like he had a cloud over his head for Johnny to say this, but it's the first social interaction Mark has had all week. He sniffs.

"Not really," he admits. "You haven't seen Donghyuck, have you?"

Johnny frowns. "Yes, I have. Why?"

Mark sighs. "I fucked up, he has been avoiding me. And so has everyone else, so… that kinda sucks." 

"Damn, what happened?"

Mark would not normally tell his problems to people he doesn't really know, but since Johnny is the only person to ask, he launches right into the story, and Johnny waits until he's finished before saying anything.

"I can't blame you for assuming, and I doubt Donghyuck does either," Johnny says.

"I know that," Mark says. He looks down and plays with his fingers, avoiding eye contact. "But it was the way I worded it. Really badly. And yeah, it was cruel. I can see that."

"It's alright, Mark. You didn't intentionally hurt him, right?"

Mark shakes his head, "no way, I could never."

Johnny pauses for a second and observes him. "Look, I know you like him. Your concern came with good intentions, that's all that matters. And you just have to give him time. He doesn't hate you, Mark. None of his friends do either."

Mark pointedly ignores the word "like" and tries to cover his red ears. Johnny notices anyway. "They don't?" 

"No, they're just giving you time and space too. Jeno's idea, I think, because he noticed you spending a lot of time in bed."

Mark smiles sheepishly. 

"And Donghyuck never stops talking about you. I don't think he could hate you if he tried."

Mark looks up and makes eye contact now. 

"Please don't tell him I like him," he whispers aloud. It's the first time he's done so, and it's as liberating as it is terrifying. It's out there - Mark has a crush on Neverland's treasure lost boy.

"Oh my god, you're both so dumb," Johnny says and shakes his head. He does agree not to tell, eventually, and Mark believes him. 

"If you see him, please tell him I'm sorry," Mark says.

"I will," Johnny agrees and then Mark takes his (Jeno's) notes in his arms and leaves the front desk. Johnny goes back to his work, and Mark climbs the two flights of stairs to sit at the same table as last time. It's free, like he hoped it would be, so he sits, spreads out an entire week's worth of notes of all different classes across the end, and begins to read.

Mark does actually finish everything, though it takes several hours and he ends up with a sore back from being slouched over too long. He's pretty sure school finished for the day in the time that he worked because when he looks up from writing in his workbook, the library has filled out with more people. Though maybe the fact that it's raining outside has something to do with it.

On the lower levels there are even more people, gathered in the foyer of the library near the desk to shield from the rain until the cafeteria is open for dinner. He hasn't really seen rain in Neverland yet; clearly this is nearing the end of the high season - not quite spring, nor summer, but a mix of the two: warm and sunny days, cold and dark nights and mornings. 

Rain signals the start of the low season, similar to a regular winter, though certainly less harsh. He had learned this in his early classes, and it made him think of heavy Vancouver winters back home. Apparently Neverland snows sometimes, and he wants to be here to see it to compare. 

The thought alone makes him queasy. He thinks of his mom, dad and brother - are they looking for him? Something lurches in his gut and he thinks it's guilt. 

He spots Jaemin and Renjun standing together in the entrance and approaches them, Johnny's words ringing in his ears. They don't hate you, he tells himself, and it's confirmed when they smile at him as he pushes through the crowd. 

"Mark, you're looking better," Jaemin says. 

"Thanks," he says.

"We were going to send a search party for you," Renjun jokes and there is a smile in his voice as he does so. 

"Good luck with that, sending a group of lost people to look for me." 

They both laugh and Mark smiles, he feels happy for the first time in a long time. He didn't know how badly he needed that talk with Johnny. 

Jeno appears behind Mark and his two boyfriends lean in to kiss him once each. Mark looks away to give them privacy. He envies them, really -- they have the courage to pursue this risky relationship here, where nothing is certain. And they all seem happiest together.

The doors of the library open and, rain now stopped, everyone gathering in the entrance pours out and instead, goes into the cafeteria. Mark stands with Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun for a little while in the line, talking aimlessly until Donghyuck suddenly joins them. 

Mark hasn't seen him in a week, and even before that he avoided him for a few days living in the tree, so it's amazing that he can see him like this, up close, again. He is smiling, lips parted with white teeth; he is beautiful. 

"Donghyuck," Mark says before he can stop himself. 

He turns to look at him.

"Yes, Mark?" 

Mark stammers. He hadn't planned this, he hadn't anticipated seeing Donghyuck at all, but now that he was here, in front of him (and not crying and happy) his words were lost in his throat. 

"I," he says, then begins again. "It's good to see you, I missed you."

He catches the look of surprise and the small flush of pink that graces his cheeks. 

"Oh," he says. "I missed you too." 

Painfully awkward, perhaps, but Mark has been waiting to hear Donghyuck say anything to him for days. He feels warm, elated. His heart does something inside his chest. 

Renjun, Jaemin and Jeno all share a look which Mark briefly sees.

"Oh, damn, I just suddenly remembered I'm lactose intolerant and all the meals today contain milk, I need to go tell Peter. Jaemin, Jeno, let's go," Renjun quickly drops his tray on the counter, takes the hands of both of his boyfriends, and ushers them out of the line leaving Mark and Donghyuck alone, together. 

Donghyuck scoffs. "They couldn't be more obvious. Renjun doesn't even have lactose intolerance."

Mark smiles. "He's an actor."

"And also a liar," Donghyuck says, but there is absolutely no malice in his voice. 

The food in front of them looms into view: lasagne, some kind of rice dish, a soup, various trays of vegetables and meat and fish… Donghyuck grabs Renjun's discarded tray as his own.

"I'm sorry, by the way," Mark says.

Donghyuck is silent for a few moments, though he does eventually speak. "I know." 

Mark looks at him. 

"And, I forgive you. Though I have some things I should explain to you."

They take food onto their trays in silence. Mark opts for a slice of lasagne, Donghyuck picks the rice dish, and then they find their usual table, sit opposite each other, and begin to eat, though it isn't long before Donghyuck puts down his spoon.

"Mark," he says. "I'm sorry too. I walked out on you at breakfast the day Yangyang came back and I didn't give you any answers, I can't blame you for making assumptions. I would have done the same thing, if it was me."

Mark stops eating too and focuses entirely on Donghyuck.

"I left my dorm. I went to stay with Taeyong at the tree because Yangyang was my roommate, just like he was the first time. And I couldn't stand being around him. And I avoided meal times and school so I wouldn't see him but I didn't realise how bad that was."

Donghyuck sighs. "He's gone now. For good this time. He knows everything, about my feelings. And he understood and he left. No hard feelings." 

Mark nods. A wave of relief washes over him. 

"I was emotional. It was actually earlier that day that I spoke to him to tell him I wouldn't go, couldn't. Even though I knew that from the moment I saw he was back, I was just too scared to tell him before." 

He looks down at his rice now. Mark has never seen Donghyuck look so… unconfident.

"He was my only chance at a life outside of Neverland. And I said no, because I didn't want to give him false hope. And I'm scared to leave too, especially without my friends. And yes that includes you too."

Mark smiles softly at Donghyuck.

"I was being overly secretive with you. I pretended Yangyang didn't exist because I was ashamed of that history. I tried to stop you from finding out about it, but it just made things worse. And you found out anyway."

"I'm sorry, it wasn't my business. Jeno and Jaemin and Renjun all told me that, but I didn't listen."

Donghyuck shrugs, "it doesn't matter, it was dumb of me to hide it anyway." 

Neither say anything for a few moments, just letting the words rest on the table between them. Mark's heart settles in his chest. The smoke in his brain starts to clear.

"I forgive you," Mark says. 

Donghyuck fiddles with his fingers and looks at Mark, then holds his hand out. The action feels vulnerable. Mark takes it and curls his fingers over Donghyuck's palm, and Donghyuck does the same to Mark's palm. It's not a handshake; instead, their hands rest on the table in front of them. Together. Donghyuck seems to visibly relax when Mark takes his hand in his own, like he was nervous.

Mark feels a spark of electricity up his arm, straight to his chest. It ignites a warm feeling in him. 

"I like you, Mark. I think talking to Yangyang that day made me realise it," Donghyuck speaks in a small voice. If Mark wasn't listening well, or if the sound of the cafeteria was louder, he wouldn't have been able to hear him. But he does.

Donghyuck looks at him. With each second that Mark doesn't respond, he seems to get more uncomfortable.

"I like you too," he says after a few seconds. He's not as confident as Donghyuck though (and he's obviously nervous as hell so Mark feels even worse). 

For a few seconds they just look at each other, then Donghyuck smiles. It's small and soft, and he squeezes his hand gently. 

"Would you like to stargaze with me tonight?" Donghyuck says.

"Where's the best place?"

"The mountain," he says. "At 10?"

Mark nods with a smile on his face that mirrors the one Donghyuck had moments ago. 

"I would like that," he says. 

The bell rings to signal 5 minutes until the end of dinner. They both look at their plates of food and laugh, meals half finished. They eat as much as they can in the time, then push their plates to the middle of the table and leave the cafeteria. 

Outside, they stand next to each other. The sun is setting, and most people are here, enjoying the last moments of the day. The rain has stopped, leaving behind a few puddles on the ground and a fresh smell. 

Their hands are still joined, and remain so until they get to the dorm building. 

"Um, so, I'll meet you at the mountain at 10?"

Donghyuck nods, gives him another smile and takes his hand out of Mark's. There is a moment in Mark's head where he wants to kiss his cheek with the promise of seeing him later, but perhaps that's rushing things. Instead, he opens the door for them both, and he waves. 

"See you later," he says. 

Donghyuck looks like he wants to laugh, but he waves also. Perhaps he sees Mark's internal turmoil on his face.

"See you later," he repeats. And they go in separate ways. 

In his dorm, Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin are squeezed into the top bunk, cuddling. They are so close Mark can't even tell which limb belongs to which boy, though when Mark walks in they separate into three very quickly. 

"You went to find Peter, I see," Mark says and raises an eyebrow. The three of them blush in unison and look embarrassed. Mark laughs.

"How did it go?" Renjun asks. 

Mark pauses for a moment, smiling to himself. He catches the look the three of them share. 

"Well, we made up. Yeah."

Jeno raises an eyebrow this time. "You seem happy?"

Mark smiles a little more and nods his head. "I think… I think we have a date? Tonight." 

Jaemin suddenly starts to laugh and nudges Renjun in the side. "I told you that would happen tonight! Pay up, baby." 

Renjun scowls and nudges Jeno in the side too, and they both look at Jaemin with the same expression. 

"Did you… bet on us?"

The three of them look at Mark, smiles now guilty. More than anything, Mark is surprised they even knew. Is he really that oblivious?

"You guys knew?" Mark asks incredulously.

"Mark," Renjun says, "we knew before both of you. It's kinda obvious."

"Where are you going tonight?" Jeno asks.

"Stargazing, on the mountain. He said it's the best spot for it."

Jaemin nods, "he's right. That was mine and Jeno's first date too, right?" He looks at Jeno, who is now smiling so wide that his eyes have curved into little crescents.

"Yeah! And mine and Renjun's was in the meadow near Cannibal Cove, until we had to escort a lost Mark back to civilisation on his first day," he starts to giggle and Renjun joins in. 

"I remember that! Then you disappeared and ate with Jaemin and I didn't know which person I was more jealous of." 

While they are reminiscing about the start of their relationship, paying more attention to each other than they are to Mark, he dips into his bunk. He's a little scared to be honest - he hasn't been on a date for a long time. The last time was with a girl he dated for about 2 months back home, but Mark can't even remember her name now. He's never been on a date with a boy before. 

Is this even a date? he asks himself. Then he panics. What if Donghyuck isn't viewing this as a date? He has about 3 hours until they have to meet, and his nerves get stronger every second. 

Around the two hour mark, Mark gets so anxious he just goes to take a shower anyway even if it's definitely way too early. Jeno and his boyfriends are still in the room and it doesn't look like they will move as they are cuddled together again, now looking at something on Jeno's laptop screen, but it seems Mark opening the closet about five times trying to decide what to wear, and his constant pacing around the room, is distracting even for the three of them.

"Mark," Jeno whines, obviously frustrated. "You'll put a hole in our carpet if you pace anymore. Do you want our help?"

Mark nods his head, embarrassed.

Jaemin hops down from the bunk and goes to the closet. The clothes in there belong to no one in particular, they are just there, magically in the right sizes. Another Neverland perk. He pulls out a pair of pants. "Just wear these with a nice shirt and a jacket. Donghyuck will probably wear something similar anyway." 

Mark takes the pants from Jaemin, picks a shirt and jacket, and heads into the bathroom to change into them. When he comes out, Jaemin is back on the top bunk, and he sticks his thumb up in approval. Renjun and Jeno do the same, but distracted by the screen.

Mark is ready almost an hour early, but he leaves the dorm anyway before he gets on Jeno's nerves anymore. They all smile and wish him good luck before he goes, and then he takes the short walk to the mountain. 

Neverland at night is mesmerising. For one, it's completely silent; the animals and magical creatures that come out during the day all sleep at night. Usually, there are birds, insects, rodents, reptiles… but at night they don't exist. The only sound is Mark's feet on the flattened grass as he walks. By 10, most people are in their dorms though there aren't any restrictions about walking around at night. Or maybe there are and Donghyuck, being the favourite, is some kind of exception. 

He deliberately avoids looking at the sky.

Donghyuck is actually at the base of the mountain when Mark arrives. He hangs back a little bit so he can gather his thoughts (and because he's too nervous because this is real and they're about to go on a date). He is wearing dark pants and a light shirt, and honestly he looks beautiful. In the day, his skin glows like he has absorbed sun rays. At night, under the glow of a trillion stars, his skin shines like he himself is a star. 

Mark gently walks out to avoid startling him. Donghyuck looks at him.

"Mark," he says. He doesn't say anything else, only looks him up and down as if checking him out. "You look really nice."

He blushes, but in the dark night he hopes Donghyuck can't see it. "You look good too." 

Donghyuck holds out his hand and Mark slides his hand into it, but not before he discreetly wipes his palm on his pants. 

Mark assumed they would climb the centre mountain, but is pleasantly surprised when Donghyuck picks one of the side mountains instead. They walk side by side, hand in hand, right to the peak, in less than an hour, chatting aimlessly along the way about everything and nothing in particular, and when they get to the top, they both take off their jackets to lay on the grass and sit on them both, next to each other.

In the distance, Pixie Hollow emits a warm blushing light but it doesn't overpower the stars. When Mark finally allows himself to look at the sky, he's never felt closer to it and yes, Donghyuck was right: without comparison, this is definitely the best place to stargaze.

Donghyuck doesn't let go of his hand, in fact he seems to hold tighter, but Mark doesn't mind. And they say nothing to each other, but they don't need to. They could be the only two people in the world right now.

Mark isn't even sure how long it is before Donghyuck speaks. The night is darker than it was when he first walked outside. 

"I'm kind of scared, Mark," he says, voice small. "I don't open myself up to people easily. And I had my feelings hurt too many times living here. If you are Found… please don't promise me anything. I'd never be able to forgive you if you can't keep the promise."

Mark squeezes his hand a little tighter. "I would take you with me."

Donghyuck takes a deep breath, "Mark, I said-"

"I know," Mark interrupts. "And I won't leave without you. I wouldn't leave you here and make you wait for me." 

Donghyuck is speechless for a few moments. 

"Okay," he says eventually. Mark knows he doesn't really believe him, but that's okay. He means what he says.

They fall silent again. The air is neither cold nor warm, just comfortable. 

"Can I kiss you, Mark?" Donghyuck asks. Just the question alone makes tingles run down his spine and to every single nerve in his body. He inhales sharply. He had not been expecting it, but would be lying if he said it didn't light his soul on fire.

"Yes," he says. His voice comes out breathy, kind of like he forgot to take a breath before speaking.

Donghyuck turns to look at him. "Are you nervous?"

"Yes to that too," he says, voice now back to normal.

Donghyuck laughs softly and turns to face him. Mark shuffles closer too, though his arms and legs are shivering (and it's not as a result of the mild temperature). 

"I've never kissed a boy before," Mark admits.

Donghyuck looks at him, "that's okay. I've never kissed a girl, but I assume it's the same." 

The talking doesn't really turn his nerves off (he doesn't think he will be able to feel calm around Donghyuck ever again, actually) but it does relax him enough that when Donghyuck moves his face close to his, he doesn't pull away, and when Donghyuck puts his hands on his waist, the touch doesn't immediately cause him to flinch.

As Donghyuck moves closer, Mark's heart hammers inside his chest, he'd be surprised if Donghyuck can't feel or hear it. He closes his eyes, and what starts as a brush of lips, escalates with Donghyuck pressing his lips on Mark's firmly, and Mark doing the same, and Mark finally having the courage to rest his hands on Donghyuck's waist too. 

Kissing Donghyuck is like being able to fly without the need for pixie dust. As if somehow all it took was faith and trust. It's happiness. It's sincere. It's easy.

Donghyuck pulls away first, after what is only probably seconds. But it felt like a long time, in the best possible way. He doesn't say anything, he just smiles really wide, and slides his hand back into Mark's. Mark rests their joined hands on his lap.

"It's late," Donghyuck says. The soft pulsating light emitted from Pixie Hollow had gone fainter, probably because of the pixies going to sleep. 

"Do you want to go back?" Mark asks. 

Donghyuck shakes his head, but stands up anyway and shakes off his jacket. "No, I want to stay here all night and talk with you."

Mark smiles, stands and does the same with his own jacket. "All night? We would have to sleep here. And risk being late for school." 

Donghyuck nods, solemn. "Yes, exactly."

The outside of the jacket is wet from evening rain and it seeps through onto Mark's shoulders, but it's okay. Donghyuck's hand automatically slides into his own again, and they start to descend. 

✶✶

Jeno is the first to notice their joined hands in the morning at breakfast, and nudges his boyfriends so they look too. Mark and Donghyuck ignore their stares and sit in their usual place, opposite each other. 

"The date went well, I see?"

Donghyuck raises his eyebrow at Mark, mouths "how did they know we went on a date?" to him, but Mark just shrugs, pretending not to know.

"Yeah, it went really well," Donghyuck answers. 

Jeno smiles. "I'm happy for you," he says. 

"Thanks," Mark says. 

Mark's not really sure what they are; boyfriends? Friends who like each other? Just two people who shared a romantic moment on a mountain? Whatever the answer, he's okay with it. He likes Donghyuck, Donghyuck likes him, and that's all that matters to him. 

After a big breakfast (Mark decided to get bacon and eggs, and then a second helping) all five boys stand, chairs squeaking noisily against the tile flooring, and leave the cafeteria. 

"Let's do something at lunchtime," Donghyuck says to Mark, discreetly, so no one else hears.

"What are we doing?" 

There is a pause where Donghyuck links his arm with Mark's, and they begin to walk in the direction of school. 

"Going on an adventure," he says. 

Mark raises an eyebrow. "During school time?"

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. "You can't tell me you've never skipped school before?" 

Mark smiles sheepishly and shrugs his shoulders. "Well, no? Not if I could help it."

Donghyuck looks at him, surprised. "Oh my god. Okay, we are definitely doing it."

"Won't we get in trouble?"

Donghyuck just stops walking and stares at Mark with an exasperated expression. "Maybe, but you're with me and I'm Taeyong's favourite, he can't punish me." 

Mark blinks. "You're a bad influence," he says.

This makes Donghyuck laugh. "I know," he holds the door open for Mark as they walk into school, and he gives Mark a kiss on the cheek when they stand in the hallway. 

"I'll see you at lunch time," he says. 

Mark's cheeks heat up from the kiss (he doesn't think he will ever get used to it) and he nods. "See you," he says after Donghyuck has started to walk away. 

The morning is slow and Mark spends most of it thinking about what Donghyuck has in mind for the afternoon instead of the content of the classes. When the bell rings at 12:30 he’s the first one out of the classroom and he speeds down the hall towards the main entrance, and to his surprise Donghyuck is already there. 

“Hi,” Mark says, slightly out of breath.

“Hi,” Donghyuck says too, and he pats Mark on the shoulder gently a few times, then slides his hand down to join Mark’s. 

“So what are we doing?” Mark says as they walk out of the school together, and instead of heading towards the cafeteria like Mark thought they would, Donghyuck leads them to where Mark’s car is parked, near the dorms. 

“Do you remember when I told you about that dream I had, where we found the exit?”

That was the day Yangyang came back, but Mark vaguely remembers that detail. He nods.

“Well, in that dream the exit was near here. It was a hole in the ground! I think we should try to find it.”

Mark smiles at Donghyuck’s enthusiasm. “And then we fly and fight pirates, right?”

Donghyuck laughs. “Yeah!”

Mark really can’t believe he’s about to do this. Donghyuck has a big imagination, obviously developed from growing up in a place designed to keep lost boys young for as long as possible. 

Beyond the dorm, there are even more trees, towering high above the building. They house most of Neverland’s bird species, some of which Mark has never heard of in the real world. Normally they wake at dawn and sing their songs all day; today, though, the forest seems eerily silent. It brings a sense of apprehension to their game. He squeezes Donghyuck’s hand extra tight, and Donghyuck responds with the same.

Mark has not really explored this part of Neverland much, only because there is not much to see and other areas are much more interesting, but in the years Donghyuck has lived here there isn’t a centimetre he hasn’t seen. Mark watches his face as he focuses on the ground, counting footsteps, eyebrows drawn together. He think he looks cute, concentrating so intensely on the very important task of locating the rabbit hole.

Suddenly he stops, and Mark almost trips on a tree root sticking out of the earth.

“What?” He asks.

“It was here, in my dream. The other side of this tree.” 

Mark isn’t sure how serious Donghyuck is. Does he really think the exit out of Neverland is down a hole in the ground? And even if it was, wouldn’t he have been able to find it before now and leave many years ago? He lets go of Mark’s hand and walks around the edge of the tree until he disappears at the other side.

“Did you find it?” Mark says, following him after a few seconds. Donghyuck doesn’t answer.

He is there, but he’s staring starry eyed into a deep rabbit hole at the base of the tree. 

“Is this it?” Mark says, expecting Donghyuck to make a joke about Mark being gullible enough to believe that there even is an exit, let alone an exit so easy to discover. But he doesn’t, and he only nods, and Mark understands that perhaps Donghyuck is more serious about this than he thought. 

“Let’s go down it, then,” Mark says. After all, if this is the exit (which Mark justifies isn’t super far fetched considering Neverland’s entire existence) and the real world, home, exists just beyond their feet, Mark already made a promise to leave with Donghyuck. They wouldn’t be here right now, skipping lunch time and dirtying their uniforms, if it wasn’t for that.

“Me first,” Mark says. He kneels and crawls on his hands and knees to the edge of the hole. He does feel a little silly, but the hole is big enough for a person (far too big for a rabbit) and doesn’t seem to have an end, so really he is just as curious as Donghyuck is.

As he begins to lower himself in, the further he gets, his feet don’t touch a bottom. Even at shoulder height, he has to hold onto the roots of the tree to stop himself from falling completely. Donghyuck is frowning.

“Mark,” he says. He chews on his lower lip. “Mark, what if this really is the exit?”

Mark lifts himself by his arms and sits on the tree roots so he’s no longer dangling. “Then we leave. Together. Like I promised.”

Donghyuck still chews on his lips, “do you believe it’s the exit?”

Mark hesitates, “I don’t know. But there is only one way to find out.”

There is a moment’s pause. “Together? You mean it?”

Mark nods and holds out his pinky. Donghyuck stares at it for a moment before he hooks his pinky around it. “Promise,” he says.

Mark shuffles back into position and lowers himself back into the rabbit hole until he hangs on by his fingertips. He is about to let go when Donghyuck stops him.

“Wait, Mark,” he says. Mark has never seen him look so worried. 

“What if we can’t come back?”

Mark pulls himself out again, cringing at the mud stains on his arms and knees. “Isn’t that what you want?”

Donghyuck sits next to him, silent for a few moments. 

“I don’t know what I want. I didn’t actually think we would find it. I was just going to pick up old tree branches and poke you with them.” 

Mark laughs softly. 

“I can’t leave without seeing my friends again. Or Taeyong. Or Johnny. Or the mermaids or the pixies.”

“One more exclusive access all areas guided tour for good luck?”

Donghyuck smiles and nods. “Call me stupid, but… I know this is it. I’ve been to this part of Neverland a million times, and this has never been here before. And there are no rabbits here.”

Mark looks at it, thinking.

“I wonder why you weren’t able to find it until now,” he says aloud.

Donghyuck tugs his hand gently and pulls him to his feet. “Neverland magic,” he says, and it makes sense. 

Together, they walk the short distance back to the school. They pass Doyoung, one of the teachers, who looks disapprovingly at their muddy uniforms, but they pay him no mind.

If Donghyuck knows this moment is his last in Neverland, Mark can’t argue with that. He is prepared to leave too. He is not attached to this place as much as Donghyuck, or any of their friends. He is grateful for Neverland for finding him when he was lost, and providing sanctuary when his circumstances could have been much worse, but for Donghyuck, this is home, the only place where he has family. It puts so much weight on their shoulders.

The first stop on their tour, working clockwise around the island, is the tree. Taeyong’s home. And when they approach it, the smell of cooking food wafts up from the open top. Donghyuck kicks the stump with his foot and seconds later, Taeyong’s airy voice sounds up the middle.

“Who is it?”

“Taey-- Peter, it’s me.”

“Come in,” he says. 

Donghyuck climbs onto the decaying stump and falls through the middle, before Mark does the same and they land ungraciously on the pillow at the bottom.

Taeyong is still wearing all green and a hat with a red feather in it. He helps both boys up.

“Taeyong,” Donghyuck doesn’t censor his name this time, “we found the rabbit hole.”

Taeyong claps his hands with glee. “I knew you would find it! Oh the cleverness of me, my clues worked.”

Mark’s not sure he likes that Taeyong implied he orchestrated the whole thing. Donghyuck got this idea from a dream he had - did Taeyong somehow control their dreams now?

Donghyuck isn’t phased. “Thank you,” he says, and it softens Taeyong to the point where he brings Donghyuck into a hug. 

“I’m happy for you,” he hears Taeyong murmur. “Pursue that design career, alright? And never ever come back here, in the nicest possible way.”

Donghyuck laughs and detaches from Taeyong’s hug. “I promise, you’ll never see me again.”

Mark gets a hug from Taeyong too, which he absolutely was not expecting. Their first and only encounter hadn’t been positive and he assumed since then that Taeyong didn’t like him, but it appears he forgave him too.

“Good luck, Mark. Look after him.” And Mark nods, and thanks him, and that’s the end of that encounter. Mark isn’t good with goodbyes anyway.

After one more round of goodbyes, they leave the tree and continue their tour. They walk in silence, hands held together, close. 

It has been a while since Mark visited Pixie Hollow. The tree has grown flowers since the last time, so while it glows a gentle gold, there are tiny specks of red and pink amongst the leaves. The last time they both stood here, Donghyuck flirted with a tiny pixie called Nakyung. 

“I bet she’s forgotten who I am,” he says. Mark laughs. 

“At least she won’t be jealous if she’s confused.”

Nakyung - as it turns out - does remember, but no longer cares. She began a relationship with a male pixie and apparently they couldn’t be happier. Or at least, that’s what Donghyuck says. She still refused to speak to Mark. Old habits die hard.

Still, she congratulated them before flicking the tip of Mark’s nose with her wings again, and flew back into the hive. Donghyuck laughs at Mark’s annoyed facial expression, and they leave through the clearing behind the tree to eventually come to Mermaid Lagoon.

All four mermaids that Mark has met are on the rocks. They look at the two boys emerging into the lagoon, and this time Yeri is the first to dive into the water and swim to the surface edge to greet them. 

“Have you come to play us more music?” She asks.

“No, actually. We’re leaving,” Donghyuck says and Yeri creates a splash in the water with her tail in shock, causing the other mermaids to jump in and swim to the surface in curiosity.

“Without our solo song, Mark? How disappointing,” says Wendy.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to finish it in time,” he lies, but it seems to satisfy Wendy so he says nothing more. 

“Donghyuck, I thought you were here forever,” says Seulgi. It would sound rude if she didn’t have a smile on her face.

“Me too,” he says.

“Mark, are you leaving too?” Joy asks.

“Yeah, together.”

She looks at them both for a moment, “don’t be silly enough to get lost twice.” 

Mark smiles. “I won’t.”

Again the mermaids (eventually) congratulate them and wave goodbye with their tails out of the water, then they swim back to the rock to bask in the mid afternoon sunlight. As both boys turn around and start to walk back to the cafeteria area, Donghyuck squeezes his hand somewhere near Cannibal Cove in anticipation. Saying goodbye to their friends is going to be the hardest goodbye of all, and they both know it.

Class has ended by the time they get back to the living areas, and most people hang around outside the cafeteria waiting for dinner. They spot Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin together near the entrance, but hesitate. 

“Are you ready?” Mark asks.

“No,” says Donghyuck and there’s a look of anguish on his face, but he starts to move forward anyway, one slow step in front of the other. Mark understands completely how he feels and follows him, together, as he has done the entire tour. 

Jeno is the first to see them approaching.

“Oh hey guys, we didn’t see you all afternoon, where did you go?” 

Jaemin does a once-over on both of their uniforms. “You went to the woods? You’re covered in mud.”

Mark looks at Donghyuck, at the same time he looks at him. 

“We skipped school. We went on an adventure,” Mark says.

Renjun raises one of his eyebrows. “What kind of adventure?”

Donghyuck pauses, and takes in a breath. “Uh, we... We found the exit, out of Neverland. And Peter confirmed it.”

The smiles drop from all three faces. 

“You… found a way out? For real?” It’s Renjun who seems the most surprised by it, and he looks like he could cry, or be sick, or both.

“Yeah.”

“So… are you leaving?” Jeno asks.

“Yeah. We are. I promised I’d leave with him, so we are going together.”

The three of them are silent for a moment, until Jaemin steps forward and hugs Donghyuck tightly, and Jeno hugs Mark, and Renjun steps forward to hug all four of them at once and eventually everyone huddles together in a group and hugs each other. They have onlookers curious to the unusual show of affection, but it doesn’t matter.

“What’s this? What’s happening?” The voice belongs to Johnny, who has obviously migrated out of the library in time for dinner. If Mark wasn’t squished somewhere in the middle, he would greet him. It’s Donghyuck who somehow manages to break free first.

“Johnny,” he says, and hugs him too. Mark swears he sees him cry, but he’s not sure.

Johnny hugs him back but is clearly clueless to the reason. 

“I’m leaving,” he says. “And Mark. We’re leaving. We found a way out.”

Johnny seems just as surprised as their other friends, but it just makes him hug Donghyuck back a little tighter. Of everyone on Neverland, the two of them relate to each other the most, and Donghyuck is risking familiarity to follow Mark into the unknown. 

No one can really say anything, but Jeno steps forward again and embraces Mark and his boyfriends join in, and if he was emotional before, he’s even more so now. He hears Renjun sniffle on his left shoulder and that’s it, he’s gone too. 

They stay like this for a while, until Donghyuck is done having his moment with Johnny and he joins back in and more sniffles are exchanged. When Mark arrived here, however long ago that was, he never thought he would be leaving like this, with the boy he likes, and friends who genuinely care about him. In a way, Mark is risking this, to also follow Donghyuck.

Eventually the five of them detach, though each boy looks like they have a lot to say. Maybe they do, but goodbyes are already hard enough. “Take care of each other,” Jeno says. 

“And you,” Mark says. Renjun, Jaemin and Jeno all smile.

The three of them follow Mark and Donghyuck back to the rabbit hole, though Neverland magic prevents the three of them from getting close enough to climb into it themselves. It’s not their time. Perhaps soon it will be, but at least they know where to go when it is. 

Mark goes first, and dangles over the edge like he did so before. And with more nerves than confidence, he lets go, and falls and rolls out of a rabbit hole into a meadow he recognises not far from his house. Only seconds later, Donghyuck rolls out after him. When Mark holds his hand and pulls him up, the hole closes, probably forever, and they are alone and the portal to Neverland is gone.

“We did it,” he says, full of wonder, and Donghyuck looks around at the surroundings, at the sky and the ground and the distance, then he holds his hand tighter.

“We did it,” Donghyuck repeats. Neither of them are really sure what to do next, now they aren’t confined to the walls of a mysterious island, but it’s okay. They have forever to decide.

✶✶

“We all get lost once in a while, sometimes by choice, sometimes due to forces beyond our control. When we learn what it is our soul needs to learn, the path presents itself. Sometimes we see the way out but wander further and deeper despite ourselves; the fear, the anger or the sadness preventing us returning. Sometimes we prefer to be lost and wandering, sometimes it’s easier. Sometimes we find our own way out. But regardless, always, we are found.” - Cecilia Ahern, A Place Called Here

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/inj4nie?s=09). much love. ♡


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